Rune Soldier The Continuation
by GrizzlyBiscuit
Summary: Ever wonder what new adventures Louie would screw up for Merrill, Melissa, and Genie after Ohfun? Here's one thought of how things might go...Finally Finished
1. Prologue

The writer would like to express to all those who read this that in no way does he own the rights to use the characters, names, places, or anything else related to the series of Rune Soldier. With that said, the writer also adds that all usage is in way an attempt to take credit from those who created such a great series. The writer only wishes that there was more Rune Soldier, and if they continued it, it went something along the lines below. 

The writer thanks you for your mercy for not prosecuting him into poverty and allowing the writer to create a continuation to the story in the wonderment of the question 'What if?'

With that Disclaimer out of the way(please, don't sue me T.T I love my Cup O' Ramen) I now entreat all readers to enjoy this piece of fiction, and will love to take any and all comments as I will try to make it as close to the animated series as possible without the characters going to far off character. On With The Show.

* * *

Darkness. 

It always started with the darkness.

His eyes opened in the darkness of an ancient ruin, from when the old magic was still strong. He remembered many wizards and priestesses that used to be there and the many tasks he had done for them, though he sensed that their time had long since gone. Gazing about the room as the smoke poured out of his ceramic casket, he sent out all of his senses to gauge what had awoken him.

The magic in his blood felt it far away from him as the old magics from his time were used once again, reanimating him as a misfired spell back lashed upon the place it had been used. It was always the same when magicians tried to rise beyond their station, the destruction and devastation of new spells being created and falling to pieces as the casters themselves could no longer retain the concentration to hold the magic to its purpose.

He had to be sent.

He was always sent to the places where they failed, as he was created for these things. Trained to handle anything, they had said so long ago. Time was irrelevant to him, as was anything but the purpose of his creation. He briefly wondered how he would return back into stasis without the old ones and their spells before casting it aside as he reached for the edges of the upright casket, and stepped back into the world.

The greaves they had given him creaked from the pressure of his grip as his hands latched hold and he pulled himself toward the mouth. Green fluid pooled at the foot of the casket and his midnight blue boots caused a momentary ripple across the surface of it as he hesitantly stepped free. He was weak from sleep, but it would soon be gone. He would gain his strength back, it would be necessary for whatever purpose was required.

Would he kill this time? Brief flashes of battles passed through his vision as his mind graced over the multitude of both magical and physical combat he had been subjected to when he had been first created. It didn't matter, not yet anyways.

Find the place of the attack, or in this case, the place of the 'accident'. Assess what was left. Find and detain the caster if they were still foolish enough to be alive.

These were his tenets, the rules to his being. He glanced cursory over his body and his armor. The midnight blue leather armor still looked fairly good, as if no damage had been dealt to it in the time he had been gone. He would have to thoroughly look it over later, knowing that a small crack anywhere in weapon or armor could make things ….. difficult.

A rotted bag sat on a small rotted stool, the only furniture in the stone room. It had fallen to pieces some time ago next to the doorway that led upward toward the surface and the world. The storm cloud gray shirt under is leather plate felt as if it was falling apart, or near enough to warrant the need for supplies, though he did not know if the money left for him would be enough, or even necessary. As his dark green pants started to dry from what was left of the fluid, small tears began to fray at the bottoms of them and work their way upwards.

He walked to the bag and ripped the rotted fabric open, tossing the rags into the corner of the room as he picked up the coins in his hands. Time was not something he was concerned with, but he was expected to begin as soon as he was able, and to complete his tasks as fast as he could. Efficiency was expected of him, and perfection was mandatory. A brief glyph glowed on the back of his gloved hand as he began to march upward, his mission begun.

* * *

Celecia had watched as the giant crystal of the old magics had come down from out of the sky, watching intently as the humans raced and milled around in their walled city of Ohfun. She had helped Louie out yesterday, but had stayed near the borders of the Tartious Forest to see if anything Louie did could be seen from up near the woods. The Elders of her village were still slightly upset with her for Louie and his compatriots, but with the successful mission of restoring the balance of the spirits, they were beginning to forgive her the mistake.

She didn't see it as any mistake and was beginning to become fond of the bumbling mage, still stunned by the thought that he struck first with his fisted before he would even think about magic. She smiled wistfully as she remembered swinging the pig over his head as he fought against the monsters in her village. Her smile hadn't lasted when the crystal had come down from the skies above their city.

The Elders had spoken about how the crystal was from the era of early magic, what the humans called the forbidden magic. For the elves, it was from a time when humans were still fumbling for their own way to learn how to touch the Source, though the humans called it the Four Elements. She watched for no more than maybe an hour before the crystal had stopped revolving in place and had plummeted into the highest point of the city.

She stared blankly at the destruction it caused, the billowing smoke and deep rumbling of the earth as it impacted and pushed down into the earth's embrace with its great weight. She could imagine the look on Louie's face when he realized what he had just done and began laughing, holding her stomach at the visual image. Leaning backwards, she nearly fell out of the tree she had been sitting in several times as she maintained her precarious balance.

That was when the Spirits had alerted her to it. She placed her hand against the tree she had been sitting in as she turned and stood carefully on the branches, her senses listening to not only the animals but to nature itself. Something that was not of Nature's Way had been awoken, something that the earth had long forgotten. It was far to the north of the Tartious Forest, beyond many lands and near the mountains of the old dwarven kingdoms when they had still dwelt with men.

The scene in the city of Ohfun forgotten, she headed back to her village, hoping that whatever had been awoken would not threaten her people.


	2. Chapter 1

It had been a week after 'Leonard' and his close friends had begun their adventure to track down Louie and his band of adventurers. Carwess gazed out of his window at the magicians guild toward what was left of the castle. "To think that there would be magical ruins under the castle itself, and that someone from the old guard had known about it whereas I, court magician for King Rijarl never suspected." He thought to himself as he watched a few men and some well trained apprentices work grapnel ropes to the artifice.

"Prince Littner looked like a new man, a driven one after the incident." This made the old man smile as his thoughts continued. Priestess Jenny had said much the same to him after they had gathered up some supplies and the blessing of the King on their good fortune in finding their quarry. Sighing softly, he walked back over to his desk and sat himself gingerly behind the piles of paperwork that the reconstruction of the castle had given him.

Requisition forms, bills and handling, student request forms for materials, and of course Foltess's report on why he had not been here when the city had been set under siege from within its own walls. To think, someone of Foltess's skill had nearly handed the kingdom blindly over to a man who claimed he wanted to aid the king with a creation of such magnitude. He was skilled, but ignorant and a glory hound, reaching for greatness without thinking of who would be stepped upon as he wished for the position that Carwess now held.

Sighing softly to himself, he pinched at the bridge of his nose. "If you could have only waited with patience, Foltess." Carwess thought quietly to himself as felt the burdens of both of his positions settling heavily on his shoulders. "I would have retired at the end of this semester, but now you have left me with no choice but to continue."

Whenever he thought of Foltess, Dardanel was never far behind him. Who could have imagined that Dardanel had hid himself so neatly in another name that no one, not even himself saw through the deception. They were still digging out the central chamber that looked to be the control area for the magic that called down the crystal, but had yet to locate Dardanel's body, if he had ever been there to begin with.

The mercenary's had been a nuisance for now, but hoping that the returning soldiers would help to bolster the already tired troops in purging them all from the city. He suspected that many now hid under the guise of 'hired adventurers', and it would hurt Ohfun even more if all adventurers would have to be turned away for a time.

Turning back to the work sitting on his table, Carwess murmured softly as he read over a few papers he flipped through as he was trying to decide which to start with first when a knock announced the presence of Ila at his doorway.

"Miss Ila, to what do I owe the pleasure of your visit?" Carwess placed the papers back on the very large pile and leaned back in his chair, his fingers steepled in front of him as he turned his full attention to her.

"Excuse me for interrupting you, Headmaster." The pretty redhead bowed with respect to her mentor. She straightened up and faced him with a smile on her lips as she clasped her hands in front of her. "This letter was delivered here just recently by one of my father's men. It's addressed for the headmaster of the school, so I thought I'd come up and hand it to you myself."

Stepping into the room lightly, she handed over the letter to Carwess with a bright smile plastered on her face. Carwess figured that her work was starting to get to her as she was nearing the time of her next test, she was an excellent student and studied harder than anyone else he knew in the school, though sometimes to hard. Taking the letter from her hand, he briefly glanced over the writing on the front of the letter, before his eyes shifted slightly at something on the envelope.

"Excuse me for asking, headmaster…" Ila began, not noticing the slight startlement on the old man's face before he turned his gaze fully back to her again. "I was wondering if you had heard anything from Louie yet…"

Carwess thought of his adopted son with a deep sigh on his lips. Such a troublemaker, yet he was so kind hearted he often leapt before he thought out rationally how to approach something without conflict. He hoped that one of these days he would actually take the time and think about what he was doing before he truly got hurt. "I'm sorry to say that I have not, Miss Ila." With a rueful smile, he said to the pretty girl, "I was always the last to know about Louie's actions even when he was here, why should it be any different now that he is gone?"

Disappointment clouded her face and Carwess suspected that her asking him was a bit more than just the friendship that he had heard of them sharing, and felt a little pity for her. Trying to cover up her disappointment, she gave a short laugh and said, "I should have known he would be like that. So busy off adventuring, he forgets about everything else but what he's trying to do."

"If only he was as studious with his magic." Carwess thought to himself ruefully. Nodding to Ila, she turned and stepped from his office, allowing him to return his gaze back to the letter.

The letter itself was inconspicuous to everyone but to a highly trained magician. Had Ila been less distracted with what Louie might be up to and with what she was carrying, she may have rushed this letter to him faster than how it got here. Touching his staff long enough to close the door on the other side of the room with a word of magic, he mentally erected magic wardings and protective charms around the room with a practiced thought.

A hidden glyph had been placed on the envelope near the top of the paper, something that only someone from the guild would know. If anyone else but a mage tried to open the letter, it would disintegrate in their hands, the words inside destroyed. He studied the letter briefly, feeling the subtle spell of warding on the envelope as he peered at it from every angle.

Briefly touching his staff once again, he sent a magic commandment of opening to the envelope. The envelope itself fell away and fell to dust, leaving the letter intact and untouched as the wardings fell away from it. He opened the letter with both of his hands and briefly read over the contents of the parchment, his eyebrows rising by inches as to what he was reading.

He needed only one pass over the letter to memorize it, but he passed over critical areas of the letter just in case before muttering a cantrip to ignite and burn the letter away in his hands. He stood up from his desk and walked back over to the window, dispelling the wards and protections he had hastily erected in the room as he thought over the contents of the letter.

As ominous as the contents had been, Carwess was very calm as he thought over what the words had told him. Priestess Jenny would have to be told, and no one else could be, not even King Rijarl. Keeping secrets from his Liege sat darkly on him, but in this case, the less people knew, the better it was for everyone. Maybe he would be able to punish Foltess at the same time as teaching him a little patience.

* * *

Fall was beginning in the Tartious forest when it arrived. The Elders knew it was coming to them, Celecia was right to suspect that they felt it. Orders had been given to every elf in the village that none were to stop it from entering or leaving, or to hinder it in any way at all. They didn't want to set it off.

Celecia was near the Trees of the Old Ones, the burial trees of the elves when she saw a human approaching, though why the animals had not warned her of it she didn't understand. She had tried playing trick after trick on the human, sending sylph to try to confuse his path, or gnomes to change the plants about him, even called to dryads to change the woods around him, yet his path never faltered as he walked forward toward the village.

His armor was leather in appearance and he wore a cloak that covered his back. Both it and his armor were the color of a midnight sky, the shirt under the leather armor storm cloud gray. His legs nearly blended in with the plant life as its color nearly matching the flora he walked past. His greaves covering his hands were also the color of his armor, though they looked to be nearly thin wrappings around his hands instead of the thick leather ones of the typical adventuring humans.

Moving ahead of the adventurer, she passed the sentries and informed them of his coming before heading to the Elders who were already beginning to gather in the square amongst the trees. The man continued forward as his brown hair shifted lightly with the wind that blew through the trees though didn't touch his cloak in the slightest. He carried no weapon that anyone could see, though he carried himself as if he had a weapon on him or about him in some way that no one but a fighter could possess.

"I seek the leader of your people." The man spoke with a flat voice, as if speaking was something he didn't do often if at all. His eyes were a dull hazel, reflecting only a dull light back as the sun glinted about. Celecia felt as if death had breathed life into this person, or at least took the semblance of a man.

One of the oldest elves stepped forward from the group. "I am the leader of this village. My name is-"

"Unimportant." He cut off the elder with a slashing motion of his hand. A few archers in the trees put arrow to bow and pulled tightly on them, sighting at this offender in their presence. "I have come for the sword." The man spoke bluntly, expecting the Elders to know what he was talking about.

Turning aside and motioning to follow him, the Elders began walking off to the back of the village. All of the elves followed along, as if this was expected of all the people, to watch the events that would transpire and to forever remember this event. Celecia felt like they were on a funeral march.

Near the back of the village was a clearing with a small waterfall, their source of water for the village. A bonfire had been made nearby of the water, though a seven pointed star had been inscribed into the ground between the fire and water. The Elders separated from their tight knit pack while the man stepped to the center of the star and stared at nothing.

Once each Elder took a spot at each point of the star, they began chanting in the old language of the elves, the high speak as it was known to them. All the elves shivered as they watched, feeling the elementals gathering here to them as the Elders continued their chant. As the chanting began to reach its peak, the adventurer raised his hand above his head and clenched his hand down as air coalesced into a solid object.

Bits of rock flew into a quick funnel that spun outward from the top of the hand and from the water splashed up bands of water that circled around the air in sections. Finally Fire from the nearby bonfire threw itself onto the person and crawled up his body, strangely not touching him as they crawled into the air from his hand. As the chanting subsided, the spirits left back to their own separate domains as it seemed the light came back into the area.

In the human's hand was now held a blade that had not seen the world since the old days. The Elders had said long ago that weapons made by the elementals were stronger that steel forged weapons that man made and would even make a dwarf flustered in anger at its perfection. The long sword that the man held glowed slightly with the inner fire that the spirits had imbued it with, and looked to be stronger than even the earth it had been forged with.

Sliding the sword up underneath his cloak, he made it disappear with a motion of his hand. The Elders had gathered back up behind him in their pack of protection, eyeing the person studiously. "I require a bow." The man sounded as if it was a commandment, and to the confusion of Celecia, one Elder handed over the strongest bow in the village.

He tested the tension on the bow once, pulling it to his ear in a practiced smooth motion before sliding his arm through it and shouldering it. "You have honored your oaths with the Old Ones." The man spoke to the elders as he bowed to them graciously. Celecia kept her eyes to him, noticing that as he bent over the long sword did not distort the shape of the cloak, as if it wasn't underneath it anymore.

"We still remember the friendship they gave us." The oldest of the Elders spoke, bowing just as deep to the man. Speaking in the high tongue, the Elder spoke once more to which the human inclined his head.

"I will remember your wisdom." The man spoke flatly and turned, continuing through the village in the same direction he had been traveling. He never looked back, nor slowed his step as he left the outskirts of the village.

"Celecia," the oldest of the Elders called to her, "there may come a time where you will be sent to help him."

This confused her as she blinked blankly at him. "You are saying that I am going to have to help him?" she gazed at the back of the person. "I thought we were to stay away from humans."

The Elder chuckled slightly at her statement. "You have already broken that with your human friend." She blushed slightly at that comment. "Still, you have nothing to worry about him. He is hardly human…"

* * *

"This is so against my will." Melissa said in a miserable tone as she sat in the boat, water rocking hard enough to make it nearly capsize.

"Give it a break already, would ya?" Louie hauled hard on the fishing net as he attempted to pull more of the net into the longboat, Genie hauling on the other side to keep the net from spilling its contents back into the lake. "It's not like we have the greatest of luck in getting jobs."

"We need money to get supplies," came the high pitched Merrill's voice as she tried to raise the anchor up, preparing them to get underway as soon as they could, "plus since leaving Ohfun, we haven't had the chance to get a whole lot of cash for the work we have been doing."

"We're just lucky bounties haven't been put on our heads for what happened to the castle." Genie grunted as she pulled hard with Louie, the bottom of the net starting to come back up to the surface.

"I suppose I'm going to get blamed for that as well." Louie grumbled loudly, looking pointedly at Melissa, the Mylee priestess.

"We did an act of heroism and instead of being treated like heroes we have to run like we're the villains." Melissa clasped her hands before herself and fervently prayed to her god of battle. "This is so against my will."

Louie and Genie grunted loudly as the top of the netting reached the surface, both of them reaching reflexively to the top and tugging it in roughly as a hard gust of wind blasted across the surface of the water, sending their boat rocking once again. Sitting down into the boat on either side of the fresh catch they had just pulled in, Merrill took hold of the giant oar in the back of the boat that acted as both rudder and oar, pushing and pulling against it to get them back to port.

"Man, I'll be glad when this is all over." Louie said as he laid back and a little over the edge of the boat, earning him a disgruntled look from Melissa and Genie.

"I'll just be glad to get another sword." She thought back fondly to the huge sword she had always taken great care of, only to have it break against the magic barrier that Dardanel had used to protect himself some three months ago. She really did miss the familiar weight of that sword.

"Just be thankful we have some place out of the rain tonight. I'm getting tired of having to sleep outside without the tent." Merrill had managed to go back and get her 'darling' jar from her little house, refusing to leave without it. However, being the miserly thief that she was, she was not about to part with any of the gold within it.

"Say, now that you mention it, how much are we making on this job, anyways?" Louie looked up at Merrill at the back of the boat. Being the better business seeker, Merrill was always the go between for their jobs, though the last few had been a lot of hassle for little profit.

"Please tell me it's not more weird food." Melissa, Genie, and Louie all gained a look of illness at the thought of all the stuff that they had brought back only to have served to them on one foray into the woods looking for worms and grubs.

"Well, it's not much to say the least, but at least with this one, we get the bonus of a reference from the owner to the mayor in the next town who's been looking for some professional adventurers and not the third rate ones that have been running around out here." Merrill could just here the gold coins clinking into her jar now at the mere thought of the jobs they'd get exclusive from the mayor.

"Just remember that I'm a swordsman." Genie said flatly at the possibility of having to do something other than fighting.

"A sword less swordsman, but one none the less." Louie received a glare of death from Genie for that comment that promised retribution when she could really get at him.

Pulling into the docks, Melissa and Merrill stepped ashore as Louie and Genie stood up, reaching for the net at either end. Merrill had already placed a cart nearby to take the fish away so that they wouldn't have to over extend themselves, though they were the strongest members in their party.

Melissa prayed to Mylee silently, hoping for a sign from above to show her flagging faith that things would soon be looking up as they brought the cart now laden with fish up next to the fisherman's house. The fisherman, hearing the coming of their group, stepped out of his house being followed by the familiar form of a fellow adventurer.

Merrill who was in front of the cart and the quicker to see the second person called out lightly to their party, as if not trusting her eyes. "Hey, isn't that Prince Littner?"


	3. Chapter 2

"You mean we can go back to Ohfun?" Merrill nearly shrieked for joy at the news that they could return back to their home. She ran over to her jar and picked it up in her arms, dancing in circles as she imagined all the jobs she could find again.

"Well, that is welcome news." Genie had a content look on her face, though she still looked a little unsettled with the idea of heading back to Ohfun weaponless. A swordsman without a sword would mean she was going to have to get a job doing something else, which didn't raise her spirits in the least.

Melissa was already imagining the praise they were going to be walking back to, the triumphant champion returned. Her hands were clasped before her as she imagined the crowds in the street, packing together to watch as they paraded their way to the castle to where King Rijarl would proclaim Louie a true champion. It was almost enough to make her cry.

Louie had his arms raised in victory and was just thankful that his friends weren't being hateful at him anymore, plus thinking about how they could all go back and enjoy themselves as they once had without wanting to worry about what next odd job Merrill would find them and go back to real adventures.

Lily stood as ever oblivious to the antics of their happiness, the sour look on her face a mask that kept her true thoughts from everyone, including her teammates. The wind tugged at the edges of the veil hanging off the back of her hat that reached to the bottom of her dress.

Isabelle smiled softly to her compatriot of the Mylee order. "Isn't it great, Melissa? You'll return to the city and be able to get back to your lives without any thought of punishment."

That brought everyone up short in their throes of celebration.

"What about the parades? The celebrations? What about the champion coming back?" Melissa looked as if everything important in life was being taken away from her with every word she whined.

"I'm afraid I don't know anything about that." Isabelle said as she looked calmly into the face of Melissa.

Jakinson, manservant of Leonard, stepped forward with an ever so slight bow. "We have been asked by King Rijarl to bring you back to the castle for thanks."

"Yes, my fa.." Leonard looked over hesitantly at the fisherman who was checking out the catch, "the King of Ohfun has asked us to bring you back to him, seeing as how you left without telling anyone where you were heading."

"It wasn't any fun tracking you down either." Lily finally spoke up with a slightly miffed tone. "Four different ruins and several odd missions involving saving people and not one word of your troupe."

Isabelle placed her hand before her mouth as she coyly spoke. "Yes, it's been so troublesome for us, but at least Leonard has started to earn a reputation of 'wandering hero' that a true champion deserves."

Everyone assembled knew that Prince Littner was no pre-ordained champion, or Mylee would have given Isabelle the revelation of being with him. Had she not lied about him being her champion, things might have been better between her and Melissa, but there was that streak in all Mylee priestesses that simply liked irking her rival. The look of abject misery on Melissa's face spoke volumes about how this was hitting her.

"Wait a minute, You're the other party we kept coming across out here!" A look of outright indignation was spread across Merrill's face as she pointed accusingly at Leonard and party. "You're the reason why we've had to be everything under the sun except paid well!"

Leonard looked to Jakinson, his personal manservant and mentor in the martial arts. "Did you hear anything about a second party of adventurers, Jakinson?"

Jakinson thought briefly over the cheerful looks over the people they had helped out with their adventures and made a sound in his throat as he contemplated. His hair tied back in a chain shook lightly at the briefest motion of his head. "I don't believe so, however, they didn't seem to have anything else on their mind except thanking us for a job well done, so it is at least likely that they got to them after we had."

"So we were late in getting to the good ones." Genie sounded a little upset at this, but being the level headed one of the party, it just meant that they needed to get things done a little better.

"In any event, you said something about the King?" Louie was really depressed, but if nothing was said, Merrill would continue her anger at Leonard's group, Melissa would still be in her depressed mood, and Genie would be….well….Genie.

Leonard smiled as they got back on topic. "Yes, King Rijarl asked us to find you and bring you back to the castle. He said that he wanted to personally thank you for saving his kingdom."

Melissa did brighten up slightly at that, but it didn't raise her spirits too high as the first thought of 'Hero' had, still a King wanting to thank a sorcerer such as Louie may indeed be the first step of him becoming the destined 'Hero' she assumed Mylee had sent her to travel with.

Merrill not letting the fact that precious gold had been swindled from her by the faster group of adventurers walked over to her 'darling' jar and picked it up, making an improvised sling from a sash and slid the lengths of sash through her arm as she slung her jar onto her back. "I'm ready to go, so let's hurry back."

"It's going to take at least three months to return to Ohfun, Merrill." Melissa looked up at the sky as the sun sank lower behind the mountains on the horizon.

"With the sun going down, it will probably be harder for us, since all the monsters in the countryside like to come out at this hour." Genie shifted her feet as a cold chill came off the lake. Her cloak warded her from most of it, but the leather outfit that covered only the necessities didn't protect her at all. Sometimes she wished for some decent clothing, but threw it away as being totally useless for combat.

"Let's at least stay for our payment and to rest up before heading back." Louie said as he stretched before scratching at his hair lightly. "It's not like Ohfun is going to disappear overnight."

* * *

Carwess had been helpful in getting him this close. He would have maybe fought some of the guards of the castle as he moved closer in on what were now the ruins of the Old Ones chamber, buried under the crystal. The lingerings of the strong magic that had brought the Star Focus above the ruins were still in the ground and the stone itself, though he could feel nothing of the spellcaster or his direction on where he had disappeared to.

His eyes squinted in the darkness of the cavern, rocks still falling lightly from where the impact had crushed the greatest half of the castle. Jumping lightly from stone to stone, he approached the murky crystal that leaned heavily in the hole it had made from its fall. So much of the Old Ones power was still in the Star Focus, he looked wistfully into its surface as he relived momentarily the time when he had been created, only to stamp out those feelings harshly.

"Weapons were not made to remember the past." His creator had told him time and time again. The brief touch of him there in his head made the reality of the fact all the harder.

The problem now was that what should be done with the Star Focus. If any of the 'Magician's Guild' found out what this was truly meant for, he would have to destroy this entire city. The one known as Dardanel had come dangerously close to using its full power without realizing what he would have unleashed. He would have to be dealt with.

The chamber itself had been left relatively intact, though many of the stones had fallen out of the ceiling, not including the large crystal that had punched its way through the roof itself and streamed moonlight deep into the bowels of the earth. Moving briskly to the controls, he placed his hands onto either podium, looking only into the Star Focus.

His gauntleted hands glowed a midnight blue, casting his bared skin in a pale inhuman form as the magic in his hands trailed down the columns into the ground, and reignited the ancient magics the Old Ones had used long ago. The Crystal responded almost immediately as it lurched, then shivered before lifting up slowly from the ground and back upward into the sky.

Outside in both the town and the battlements of the castle, guards and people alike stood in awe as the crystal that had once fell to the earth rose once again into the night sky. There was a dimness to it as the midnight blue light shimmered off its flat surfaces as it began to spin once again above the castle.

The sound of earth moving roughly against earth rumbled from inside the castle as rock and stone moved under its own will, moving back into its previous positions that it had long held since ancient times. Guards stood awestruck as the ground repaired itself, pushing upward from the hole below to fit seamlessly back together into the courtyard it had once been. Stones from the few walls that had sustained damage from the crystals fall leapt into the air and sat themselves back into position as piece by piece repaired itself till no evidence remained of any damage.

As the crystals rotation slowed, the magic in the room deep beneath the castle flared brighter in the dark blue light of the caster. He gazed up with eyes that looked through the earth above him toward where the crystal hung suspended above the castle once again. The crystal came to a stop once more before rising into the sky as it had once came, disappearing into the darkness and from the sight of man.

He held the power for but a brief moment longer before removing his hands from the pedestals, the dark blue light of the glyphs fading away as he moved forward, already making his way from the room. He was going to be here as long as it took to find Dardanel, which meant he was going to need to live like a human.

The thought of talking to Carwess again was quickly discarded as he wondered who he was going to need. Maybe he would live as a mercenary this time, it had been awhile since he had been one.

* * *

Winter had finally set into the Kingdom of Ohfun by three weeks by the time the adventurers had returned home. Gazing down from the hill they stood on, Louie couldn't help but feel that he was returning back to something he missed greatly. His chest hurt with barely contained pride at the sight of his home, though his head hurt when Merrill punched him from behind.

Louie turned around, holding his head in one hand as he looked hate at Merrill. "What the hell was that for?" he angrily shot at the short thief.

"For your stupidity, that's what." Merrill was shouting just as loudly as Louie was, and for good reason. "Had you been smart enough to take that teleportation orb with you when we left Ohfun, we'd have been home months ago!"

"It wasn't mine to keep in the first place, so get off my back about it!" The magical item Ila had loaned them some time ago needed returned back to her. He didn't want to be someone that even Ila couldn't trust, though the thought of using it to get home had been a good one. Still, it wasn't like he was Merrill and going to 'borrow' it for an indefinite time period.

"Could you guys give it a rest already?" Genie was looking more than a little pissed. She had heard this same argument for the last two months when the thought had actually occurred to Merrill that they could have gotten home without traveling on foot as far as they had. She couldn't fault Louie for returning the item, but it would have made it a hell of a lot easier on all of them.

Melissa sighed weakly at the petty argument and though once again on how unprofessional it was to shout and yell like a barbarian. "This is totally against my will."

Isabelle felt a little pity for Melissa as she stood next to her ever so gentle Leonard. Still, there wasn't much she could do for her fellow priestess except silently cheer her on. Jakinson stood behind and to the right of Leonard as was his station in life, always keeping an eye not only on his well being, but on the world around them. Lily could only watch in her cold way at the antics of the other group and wonder at how they ever got anything accomplished.

"Well, we have returned home." Leonard said happily, slowing down the argument a little as he pointed out the obvious. "I'm sure that my fa…I mean, the King will be most pleased to see all of us." Louie knew who he really was, but as he was trying to be an adventurer, he was trying very hard not to be too obvious of the fact that he was Prince Littner of the Kingdom of Ohfun.

Louie and company once again looked fondly at the city as they stood quietly for a brief moment. A great adventure was coming to a close, and yet, Louie didn't want it to end just yet.

"Shall we head to the castle and see the King?" Leonard offered as he and his party stepped forward, heading down to the city gates.

"Actually, can we have a few days before we see the King?" Louie offered to Leonard, who looked a bit taken aback by the idea. "It's not that we want to offend anyone, it's just that we've been gone an awfully long time and would like to get ours lives straightened out some at our homes before going to see him."

"I agree." Melissa said on the heels of Louie, who had finally said something decent in a long time. "As a priestess of Mylee, it is necessary for me to go and see Priestess Jenny before I go anywhere else."

"I need to go see a man about a sword." She thought her old friend, Barb. If anyone could get her a weapon, it would be the Captain of the Guards.

"I need to go hit the local informants for some jobs, and make sure no one has moved in to my house while I've been gone." It may not have been the greatest place in the world, but she had paid top coin for that place and she wasn't about to lose it.

"Then we'll go ahead and let King Rijarl know that you have returned." Leonard said, understanding their positions if just a little bit. Bidding them farewell, Leonard and his entourage headed down toward the city by themselves.

Louie smiled fondly at them as they left. It wasn't too bad working with them, but being with the girls in his party was more fun and definitely more exciting. Turning to his fellow adventurers, he smiled lightly as he looked them all over. They looked wearied, dust and dirt covering not only their clothes but their faces as well. They looked spent, but Louie still admired that they held their backs straight, even within sight of home.

Melissa was eyeing him ever expectantly for that glimmer of a Hero her God of War had decreed he had. Genie looked like she was expecting a challenge from him at any moment by the way her muscles tightened up as he looked her over. He wondered idly about the tattoo on her left cheek as the wind kicked at her red hair. Merrill was protectively shielding her jar from him as he passed his eyes over her. Ever the miser of money, she still looked to bite his head off and stomp him into the dirt he even looked to have the thought of taking her 'darling' from her.

Cupping both hands behind his head, Louie spoke lightly to his friends. "Let's go home, everyone."

As he turned to head into town, someone ran past them, pushing right through the middle of their group, knocking Melissa off balance and barreling over Genie as she tried to turn into their attacker. Merrill had already flipped a dagger out from one of their various hiding places on her body and danced out of the way as the person pushed into Louie and ran past, never looking back over his shoulder as he panted heavily.

Genie was quickly to her feet, and helping Melissa up when a second person came from behind. She turned and raised her fists, ready to defend herself and her friends if necessary as the man ran closer to them. Before he got close enough to strike, he jumped into the air, leaping high over Genie and Louie as he leapt over the stunned party and within feet of the running man.

"Help me, Please!" The man yelled loudly, getting a few eyes turned toward him as he neared the city walls. Leonard was about to enter the gate into the city as he heard the plea and turned toward it. Jakinson had already moved in front of his ward and placing a hand on the sword hilt.

He never made it to the gates as the chasing man leapt a second time, landing on the first man's back and tackling him to the ground. Louie's group ran up from behind as they came to see what had happened to the man begging for help. The second man, dressed in midnight blue and dark green pants lifted the man up by his throat one handed, holding him high over his head as the first one struggled to hold himself up high enough to keep breath in his lungs.

"Mercy!" the man gasped. The grip of the dark clad man in front of him was making his vision flicker in his eyes. He thought he was going to pass out shortly.

Brown hair blew lightly as the wind whipped around all of them. Isabelle and Lily had come back from around the corner of the guards post to see what was holding up Leonard as they looked at the scene. The man's gauntleted hand let go of the struggling one, dropping him weakly to the ground.

He coughed briefly as he tried to get his breath back, holding his neck in a shaking hand. The dark clad man reached down and grabbed hold of his hair, pulling him upward forcefully by his hair as the man gasped in pain.

The man had time to cry out in pain before it happened. From somewhere on his body the man had produced a knife almost too long to be called a dagger and not yet long enough to be a short sword. With a quick motion of his hand, the blade bit into the man's neck, cutting it nearly in two with the force of the swing. Both Louie's group and Leonard's could only look in abject horror as the man took a second swing and severed the head all the way from the body.

Leaving the body where it lay as it spasmed in death throes, the man stepped over the decapitated body and toward the city, trailing blood from the look of shock on the head's face. He walked right past Leonard's party without so much as glancing at them, disappearing into the city.

"What the hell was that?" Louie said in frozen horror. He'd never seen a man murdered in such a way, and not by a man who could do it so easily or as callously as what he just seen.

"A mercenary." Genie muttered, the bitter taste of something long lost filled her mouth at the familiar way the man acted.

"The guards didn't even lift a finger to help that guy." Merrill was shocked and pissed at the same time.

"My lord…" Jakinson glanced at Leonard who looked disgusted and appalled at what they had seen. Turning around from the corpse to guide Lily and Isabelle away from what they had seen. Jakinson directed two guards to remove the body while a third was ordered to locate the man and follow him.

"What kind of guy does that kind of thing?" Melissa said as she said a prayer over the headless body quickly before stepping past it.

"The kind that will do anything for money." Genie said with the bad taste still in her mouth. She wanted to spit it out, but knew it wouldn't help. "We should avoid that guy at all costs."

"We'll need to find out who he is then so that we can stay away from him." Merrill said as she thought of the few people she'd have to talk to so she could find out everything she could of that person. Her jobs might have to wait longer than she wanted.

Louie had no doubts on who he needed to talk to. Whether he wanted to or not, he needed to talk to his adoptive father, Carwess.


	4. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: The writer does not own nor claim to own in any way, shape, or form any and all things Rune Explorer. (ie. Characters, places, darling jars of any size)

* * *

Carwess didn't even see Louie nor did he seem to care that his adoptive son had returned from the far corners of the kingdom as Louie walked toward his room in the hallway. He wasn't exactly sure what that meant, but then again not getting chewed out was a good day. At a brief mental pat on the back, he remembered the murder he had seen at the gates and the lackidasical attitude of the guards.

Sure, Ohfun's guards weren't exactly the best at what they did, but murder was still murder and somoene should have done something about it. The flash of the mans face seemed to nag at him in particular, something about it that reminded him of his studies, to which he sometimes paid attention to. Shaking his head, he decided that whatever it was wasn't that important to him as he came in sight of his doorway.

Placing his hand on the doorknob he nearly turned it when he thought about his classmate, Ila. It had been several months now since seeing her, their last meeting was when they were fleeing for their lives from the wrath of the entire city of Ohfun for destroying the castle. They'd seen that the castle had been rebuilt and rumor on the street was that magic was somehow involved, but Carwess couldn't be bothered to talk to his son.

Still, Ila had even seen them off near the little building Genie kept on the outskirts of town. That deserved some consideration, but he could well imagine that Ila had been missing him inbetween studying hard and helping to manage the magical inventory in her spare room. How she had managed to get Carwess to take a dorm room and let her have it for nothing but storage was still beyond him.

Letting go, he turned and walked down the hall a bit to the women's section. Grades were kept on the same level and classmates were seperated by a vast perimeter of a magical ward in the center of the round building. Since the building was round as a pentigram, he had asked his father a long time ago how they had managed to make a circle in a circle and be sure it was so accurate to be a perfect circle. He grinned softly at the rememberance, feeling a bit nostalgic.

Stepping across the ward, he made sure to keep hismind on business at hand and not on the women in this side of the building. Women could come and go at their leisure, but men with lustful thoughts of any kind for any reason were thrown out of the women's section, sometimes out a window. Once again, he remembered being thrown out of the women's section when he had tripped and fallen on one of the newest students to the guild, she hadn't been much then, but she had sure filled out since then.

He felt his body wrench in place and a force press on his chest before he realized what he was doing. Kicking out the thought of the girl in his head and hoping he didn't happen to see her, he made immediately for Ila's room.

Knocking produced nothing, not even the sound of a "I'm in the middle of studying." or the walking sound of her heeled shoes. He looked next door to her personal storage room and made sure that the lock was on it. Crude and woefully primitive considering what a real student of the arcane could do to it, the lock was just a reminder for people. If anyone actually tried fiddling with it, a paralysis spell hit immediately on whoever touched it or cast a spell at it.

"Not studying, and not checking out her inventory..." Louie looked out a hallway window to the sky. "Too early to be shopping yet, at least not for the really good deals..." Louie thought for a moment, totally baffled by the missing Ila.

Hiding a yawn behind his hand before he could grip his chin in thought, he decided to just leave her a note instead, to which he had to ask another student for pen and parchment. Task done, and still slightly tired from being on the last watch from their party, he decided to head for the covers of his own room.

One of these days he was going to show Genie that he had progressed farther than just the greenhorn adventurer they had taken with them to the ruins outside of town. Sure she fought better with a sword than he could and was just as strong as he was, but he'd shwon them time and time again that he was better than a rookie. He opened his door into his room and stepped inside, walking over to his desk to see if there were any notes left for him.

The sound of something moving in his room perked his head up slightly as he looked down at his desk. Someone was in here, waiting for him? Who knew he was going to be here of all days when he hadn't been here for the last six months? He started muttering a spell on his lips as he touched the haft of his wand at his back, acting like he was scratching at an itch instead of muttering a spell. Louie turned around with the final word on his lips as was about to pull his wand out before him in a sleep spell when he realized that no one else was in his room, or at least, no one standing.

His bed had a conspicuous lump in it that was moving slightly, nothing could be seen from the top and the bottom of the bed as whatever it was laid underneath the covers. Louie grabbed the top part of his covers tugging lightly to see if someone was holding it and playing a gag on him or not. The cover came up on its own and fearing that Fultiss was getting him back for that snake incident with the atrium keys, he yanked the top part back, getting ready to punch whatever was hidden.

Red hair was tousled softly and pure white skin gleamed in the sunlight from his window as he looked down at the sleeping person. He blinked a few times, trying to comprehend what he was seeing and why she was sleeping in his bed. His hand unclenched in shock as he looked onward at her.

"Ila?" Louie muttered softly, though not so softly as he thought as she moaned incomprehensibly and turned toward him. Louie blinked a second time and a third as the second ticked by, his brain still not getting what he was seeing.

Looking over his shoulder and back toward his desk, he realized that there next to the desk was the second chair that Ila would take if she didn't simply recline on Louie's bed while she helped him with his studies. In the chair itself was Ila's purple top folded neatly with her eye glasses laying on top of them and the typical brown skirt under all of those. It was starting to sink into him that Ila was asleep in his bed when still half asleep and wondering why she felt so cold, she reached up and grabbed hold of Louie's head in a tight grip, pulling him and the blanket down on top of her.

Louie's face immediately began to turn a near scarlet color as he felt Ila through the covers, his brain suddenly becoming a whole lot faster with 'getting a clue' as he now realized that she was asleep in his bed and most likely was sleeping in only her under garments. One of Ila's legs bent up and around Louie's legs, locking him against her as she muttered peacefully in her sleep, her cheek against his.

"Mmmmmmm, Louie..." Ila sighed as she held his head and moved her hands to his neck.

Louie wanted to scream, but waking up Ila right now might not be a great idea. The decision to do something was taken from him as Ila's eyes opened slowly, but leapt open when she realized that she was holding the man she had dreamt of. She blinked momentarily at the face in her arms and the bright red his face was before she squeezed even harder on him.

"Louie!" she nearly screamed, which did make him jump and try to pull away. They fell off the bed with Louie on top, Ila still holding her cheek to his. "Oh, Thank the Gods you're back! I thought you were in trouble some place!"

"Ila!" Louie managed to gasp out. "What are you doing in my room?"

"I missed you so much, where have you been all this time?" Ila spoke, not listening to anything he was saying for the time being as she held him in her embrace under her. This made Louie struggle harder underneath Ila, flailing his arms and legs wildly to try and dislodge her from on top of him.

"Ila! Would you please let me up, and put some clothes on, would ya?" Louie yelled louder, finally getting a handhold on the bed frame and pulling him and her to a sitting position.

She was crying into his shoulder lightly, muttering something so quiet Louie was having trouble making out everything. Something about her missing so much work because of him and how she had been so out of it without him being around. Was she trying to tell him something, or was she still asleep?

Shifting her in his arms, covers and all, he picked her up and placed her on the bed. He smiled at her softly and patted her shoulder with a gentle touch saying, "Hey, I'm back now and I wasn't in any real danger, so no more tears, kay?" The confused look on Ila's face to one of a soft wistful look as she began to tilt her head toward Louie's hand. He took it away faster than what would have been polite but added afterwards, "I'm going to wait outside till your decent, then we can go and celebrate my triumphant return." He struck a pose at this, which made Ila giggle slightly.

Grinning deviously, Louie walked to the door and closed it behind him without a backwards glance. It was at this time that he leaned back into the door with a deep sigh, looking at the ceiling of the dorm hallway. Had he been in the girls dorm section, he'd have been thrown bodily out of there faster than what he could have blinked after Ila pulled him down onto the bed. She was his best friend and had neevr saw her as he had just now, or felt her for that matter. He covered his eyes with one hand, trying to calm his out of control heart.

* * *

"What? The magic guild had nothing to do with the castle?" Louie was saying over the breakfast they were eating at the nearby tavern. The owner had been gracious enough to give him the usual booth sometimes reserved for the students nearby and had brought out the meal, charging the guild for it as per their standard contract.

"Strange as it was, everyone assumes Carwess had something to do with it, but no one at the castle, nor any of the teachers have the slightest idea what could have made that large crystal disappear and repair the castle all in one night." Ila was directing the conversation with her fork, trying to keep Louie's eye contact on hers as she explained to him what happened in Ohfun since he was gone. "It's obvious that magic was involved, but Carwess hasn't set anyone on figuring out who did it and doesn't seem to care either way."

Louie didn't like the idea that his old man was slacking off at his job, it reminded him of the man at the city gates this morning. "Hey, Ila, have you heard anything about a man who wears dark armor, brown hair, may be a treasure hunter or a mercenary?"

Seeing as how long Ila had been scouring the streets, even some of the local thieves guild members had gone out of their way to keep an ear in the back alleys on anything that went past them for Louie and his friends. "Now that you mention it, someone matching that description has been seen lots of times around town. I think he's a mercenary for sure, does a lot of jobs that aren't totally on the level."

Peeking around before she continued, she motioned Louie to lean toward her as she raised her hand and lower her voice. "Word has it that the very first job he got, he killed his contractor." He blinked at her, skeptical of what he was hearing, but urged her to go on. "While I was out looking for you, I heard how the man had accepted a job to hunt down a rumor of elves in the Tartious Forest and bring back hair from one."

Louie briefly thought of Celecia, then returned back to the conversation. "Well, no one knows if he actually completed his job, though the guards remember him leaving that day and coming back with a small pouch containing golden hair almost as gold as the sun. The man scoffed that he could have gotten it so easily in a day's time and refused to pay him anything."

Shivering slightly as she recalled the next part, Ila continued. "They say they found the man in his house with nothing broken or out of place, except for the owner of the house had been decapitated, his head tossed into the fireplace in the main living area of the house." Louie gulped loudly, starting to believe her more and more. "They also say that there wasn't any blood anywhere in the house and that the body was completely empty as well."

Louie sat back as Ila finished, not touching his food as he stared incredulously while Ila dug into her food in front of her which had cooled slightly. It sounded alot like the man they had seen at the front gates of the city, but no blood as well? that didn't seem likely with the spraying the body did after the head had been severed. Someone Louie had never met walked in and up next to Ila before he even saw the guy, leaning down to whisper into her ear as Ila froze momentarily with a full mouth.

The man looked a little unkempt with his clothes slightly fraying at the edges, the dirty blonde hair on his head jarring with the sun tanned skin on his face. It was made slightly worse from the missing eye and the scar running back and over his left ear. Nodding at what the man said, she handed him a bent gold coin that couldn't be worth what it was in its condition. The man pocketed it immediately and turned away from them, leaving as fast as he had come.

"What was that all about?" Louie asked, eyeing her as she put her silverware down and stood up, snatching the last piece of toast from the table. She grabbed hold of Louie's hand who only had time to drop his fork as Ila dragged him down the street and toward the Mylee temple.

"That was one of the thieves from their guild." Ila spoke back at him as she hurried down through the streets. "They have been keeping a better track on him than what I ever could with their contacts around town."

"Still, what's the hurry? Why didn't you let me finish my breakfast?" Louie was grumbling, but then again they were finally back to being students again till his next adventure anyways, so why would Ila rush out of the tavern like she was and where was she taking him.

"One of the informants just watched as the man we were talking about walked into the Temple of Mylee instead of being turned away at the gates." Ila kept her eyes forward as she guided Louie around a corner and past a man peddling trinkets of magical quality.

Louie watched as they went running by this stand, shocked at his friend before understanding that the mercenary in question had walked into the holy grounds of Mylee where only the ordained into the service were allowed to go. He had been inside only once when in search of Melissa on the very first day they had been destined to journey together, but never since then, just on the garden grounds outside. Matching Ila's pace so that he didn't outpace her, he started heading for the temple.


	5. Chapter 4

Just to let you all know, I do not own nor will ever own Rune Soldier in any way, shape, or form unless the true authors of Rune Soldier would be so kind and give it to me for free . No? Well I can always hope. (hint: This was a Disclaimer for those of you who don't know the difference)

Wow, over 100 views on this story, I must be doing something right, though the solo review (cough Dragonwiles cough) makes it all worthwhile. Mad Props to you, the reader, I worship at your feet for wanting to read what I have to tell.

* * *

Genie walked down the street near Castle Ohfun, the light blade at her hip not her own, but at least it was better than nothing. She had checked the edge herself before strapping it onto her hip, seeing that it really had never been used more than a few times. She really needed to kick Louie's ass, especially for wanting to buy a sword in the first place and then never use it. At the same time, she wanted to thank him for letting her use the weapon for her own, at least for today. 

A few of the guards challenged her, but when she raised her hands clear of her weapon and asked for their captain, they stuck the butt end of their spears into the dirt and one was dispatched to look for their Commander.

"Well, this is a surprise…" Barb said as a door opened on the massive doors leading into the courtyard beyond. "It's not often that you come looking for me." A smile was on his face as he came over and clasped hands with Genie. "Can I assume you've come to surrender yourself and give up your co-conspirators for trying to destroy our castle?"

"That's a funny joke." Genie said with no mirth evident in her voice. "I came to see a man about a sword, not to find a jester telling jokes."

"Well, you did put a hurt on the men last time you came to the castle, though if I remember correctly, you didn't come alone then." Barb said as he put one hand to his chin and thought back to the night of Dardanel's usurption. "Still, I think I can find you someone about a weapon."

"I don't have any money to pay for it." This brought a flush to her cheeks as she averted her eyes from Barb's face.

"Take it easy, Genie." Barb motioned for her to calm down. "It's not like the castle would accept your money anyways. I've been ordered by the King himself to provide you with whatever reward you wish."

Genie's one eye could be seen clearly shocked at this directive. "You mean you haven't seen the King yet?" Barb looked incredulous at Genie who shook her head and explained to him that they had just returned.

"I wouldn't be here right now except I knew you were the man who could get me a weapon without too many questions." Genie crossed her arms under her bosom, taking a more relaxed stance as Barb took in her situation.

"That had to be tough for you, not having your sword breaker with you for so long." Barb knew that Genie prized that sword over the more conventional one she used on a regular basis.

"Tell me about it." Genie was already feeling the hefty weight of good solid steel in her hands as the fifty pound plus weapon forced her to strike faster, move quicker and anticipate. She missed her workouts…

"Well, seeing as how the King would want to reward you himself, I can't give you the weapon right now." Genie thought about it for a second, then nodded. A King wanting to reward someone and finding out one of his underlings beating him to the punch would not sit well on the shoulders of an All Knowing Ruler.

"I'll be back tomorrow then." Genie waved to him and turned on her toes, except Barb called to her, bringing her up short.

"I heard you were down at the gates this morning when 'He' showed up." The emphasized He the telltale about a certain someone, and Genie could only think about one person Barb would use it for. Nodding to him, he continued, "The guy's an enigma, one I'd rather not have in the city." Barb shifted his stance, taking one on the defensive as if expecting to be attacked. "Unfortunately, he's got high representatives in good standings with the King, like High Mage Carwess and Priestess Jenny."

This was something she never expected, but it did explain why the guards didn't try to arrest him. "That's a bit unusual, especially about someone who's never come to Ohfun before."

Barb didn't deny that he'd never heard of this guy before, which just confirmed that he was an outsider, but a high ranking one. "He has a daily circuit that he does, usually around the magic school and the Temple of Mylee. All I definitely know is that he is not a man to fight."

Genie raised an eyebrow at Barb. "You're saying that he's that tough?" If he was, he must have seen a lot of battles, though he appeared as if he still had all of his limbs. Either he was born with a blade in his hand, or he was a liar.

"If you see him, Genie, Walk away." Barb said in a dead pan voice, eyeing Genie hard with his gaze. "While I'm thinking about it, keep your thief buddy extremely far from him."

At that, Genie looked Barb over harder. "Something you're not telling me?"

Barb scratched at the back of his head, thinking for a moment before continuing. "Word had it the last time I sent spies to follow him, he took up residence at a house on the outskirts of town, an old run down shack in the rubble of a house. Sound familiar?"

Genie had a rock forming in the pit of her stomach. "What happened to your spies the last time you followed him?"

Barb looked dead serious at her. "They didn't come back." Was all he said to her.

Genie took it for what it was, nodding to him and turning back toward the city, picking up her pace to a jog as she headed into town. Merrill had said that she was going to hit up her informants for any new jobs that might be in the offering, but she knew the little thief better than that. The first thing that Merrill would do upon returning to town would be to hide her 'piggy bank' in her house. Hoping nothing ill fated was awaiting the nimble thief, Genie made for her home on the far side of town.

* * *

It hadn't been too hard picking up information in town; all her old contacts had welcomed her back with nearly open arms, if their hands hadn't left their purses. She had made it extremely clear that she wasn't here for pleasantries or word about jobs yet, she was here for information about her house. Unfortunately, all of them told her the same thing. Her house was off limits to sane people anymore because of the dark armored man. 

Also hearing about where he was wasn't that hard either, as people seemed to think he was the plague given feet. Rushing through the streets, she brushed passed person after person as she headed for the Mylee temple. She had her house taken away from her twice, she wasn't about to have it taken away from her a third time without someone paying for her new home.

People yelled and called after her for her pushing them out of her way, yet they checked her purses self consciously when they saw a small figure dart out of sight just as fast as she bumped into them. She caught sight of a dark cloak, the same color as that man's this morning as he stepped beyond a corner and toward the plaza toward the Mylee temple. Hoping she could catch him before he made it inside the grounds, she gave it her all as she put on another burst of speed.

She almost made it into the plaza beyond before some huge oaf barreled into her coming from the other direction, knocking her silly for a moment. She held her head as she rubbed at her butt before she glared icy death at the person who ran into her. "Watch where you're going, you big, stupid ox!" she shouted at him, only to see someone familiar holding his head in front of her.

"Who are you telling to watch where they're going when you're not even paying attention yourself?" Louie was holding his stomach where Merrill had ran into him, trying to catch his breath back as the thief jumped to her feet.

Not paying attention to him anymore, she peered from under her hand as she tried to gaze around the plaza. On the steps leading up into the temple, the strange man was beginning to climb toward the doorway. Shouting in outrage as her quarry was starting to slip away, she called over her shoulder, "I'll pay you back for this later, Louie." before bolting into the plaza and toward the man.

Ila gave Louie a hand as she helped him to his feet, only to meet Genie as she came over to see what the commotion was about. "Hey Ila." Genie said idly as she watched their spry thief dodge around people.

"Hello, Genie. My you're looking healthy." Every time Ila looked at the scantily clad Genie, she was a bit upset and impressed at her for not feeling the lecherous eyes of men eating her alive with their gazes.

"Damn it!" Louie said, climbing to his feet and running after Merrill who was nearly on top of the dark armored man.

"What are you guys doing?" Genie was asking Ila who had stopped with her, watching the antics of two of her traveling party as they raced across the plaza.

Ila tried to explain as fast as she could. "Louie heard about the dark armored man was heading to the temple and that he was a murderer who had killed his first boss so he was coming here to make sure that Miss Melissa was going to be alright when we ran into Merrill headlong and met you here."

Genie was already looking up at the temple archway that led into the grounds themselves when Ila mentioned the dark armored man. Now she saw Merrill, and the man had stopped which made Genie grit her teeth. "Go get the city guards." Genie told Ila shortly before she took flight across the grounds herself, hoping to help out her friends in what was about to turn into a bad thing quickly.

* * *

"Give me back my house, you house thief!" Merrill shouted as she ran up from behind on the man. 

He stopped dead in his tracks and turned toward the voice that was calling to him. Being on the stairs of the Mylee temple helped as no one came to the Mylee temple unless they were part of the order or coming for prayers. A short woman in a blue top and skirt charged up at him, pulling several daggers from places on her body as she came at him, another person coming up behind her in green clothes and a brown chestplate.

They weren't who he was looking for, but they thought he was someone not to be trifled with. That meant he didn't have to go easy on them if they wanted to fight, which the little woman obviously did.

A dagger launched itself at his face and he sent one back himself at hers, the daggers catching each other in midair and falling to the ground in a clatter. The girl sent two successive daggers at him this time, catching one and batting the other out of the air with the hilt of the first dagger before sending it back at her. She dodged to the side and threw with a wave of her hand four daggers in a spreading wave. Grabbing the edge of his cloak, he lifted and then spun downward to catch or deflect the projectiles without using any more weapons than he needed to.

The man was nearly on top of him and he turned his eyes to him long enough to brush his fist past his jaw, surprising him with the ease with which he had deflected his attack. He was even more surprised when his breath was taken from him when the storm armored warrior kicked him and threw his body with his leg toward the little woman. He had time enough to think that these two people may have been assassins, but dismissed it at how ineffective they were.

The girl had to check her next barrage of daggers as the blue haired man came at her, falling into her bodily and pushing her off her feet as he rolled off of her. Sitting up, she shouted at the man but he paid no attention to it as he turned and walked toward the doorways again, nearly to the top of the stairs. He saw her kick out of the corner of his eye as his leg touched the top stair and he jumped sideways from it, avoiding the kick within inches as she turned toward the little woman again.

"I'm going to make you give back my house or so help me…" the little girl growled as she made eight daggers appear in her hands, obviously upset over something he had done.

"You want to lose your life over a house?" he told her coldly, reaching to the back of his waist and pulling out the short blade. He was tired of this tirade and of a silly desire over an abode, but mostly of dealing with weaklings.

"Louie, make yourself useful and use your magic already, would you?" the little woman was looking down the stairs at the blue haired man who had nearly made it to the top with him. He was coming at him to punch him again, but this time he was ready for a more permanent deterrent.

The fist came for his chin and his sword leapt for his throat over the chestplate. He was sure the attack was death dealing before a redheaded warrior woman pushed the man to the side, a bit of hair all the blade took with the single swipe.

"What the hell do you think your doing, Louie?" the warrior woman shouted at him and threw him back bodily toward the little girl. "Let real warriors fight warrior battles." She raised a sword in front of her, dark blade and dark grip as she settled into a defensive stance.

His eyes squinted at her as he replaced the short sword to its sheath behind his waist before reaching up along his back and removing the leather clasp as he pulled forth his long sword. He flipped it in his hand with a practiced palm roll and held it down beside him one handed, waiting for her to move, though she waited for him to move just as well.

The thief enacted the attack as she came around from the side of the warrior woman, launching her eight daggers at him. He ducked under them all, stretching one leg back behind him while the other stayed bent underneath him. The warrior woman struck as his back was totally exposed, though she had to check her lunge as he thrust upward with the sword, aiming for her face instead of her stomach where a sword block had been expecting it to go.

He rolled to his right, expecting another dagger to strike where he was nearly prone at and wasn't disappointed as the sound of metal chipping stone ricochet next to him, the warrior woman again coming at him, though using the sword this time to slice side to side. He stood once again, stepping into her slice and pushing his sword down as low as he could to prevent her from using the hilt in his gut as he looked into her eyes.

She was calm on the outside, but the grit on her mouth said she was fighting for her life. She had fought a few battles where she had been sure to lose; unfortunately this battle was going to be her last. He kept turning with her, keeping the thief on the other side of her before he heard the chanting over his shoulder. He turned quickly, trying to break the stalemate as he kicked at her knee and made her fall awkwardly away from him.

The blue haired one, Louie, was chanting a magic incantation. There wasn't going to be enough time to get to him before he was going to finish the spell, he could feel it starting to tie itself off as the power maxed outward and reached for him across the pathway. He sheathed his sword, the woman warrior already moving out of the way as their mage finished the spell and pointed at him.

Time seemed to stand still as everyone waited for the effects of the spell kick in. The man waited, feeling the magic sit in the air and start to dissipate as the spell ate itself out in unused potential. The short woman gave a dirty look to the man she had called Louie while the warrior woman had risen to her feet again and waited for the next attack.

"What the hell, Louie? Can't you cast even one simple spell?" the short woman was raving at him, waving a clenched fist over her head at him.

The man himself was looking in disbelief at the man in dark armor. "I could have sworn that it would have worked."

"Exactly what was that spell supposed to do, anyways?" The warrior woman had placed herself between the smaller woman and the spell caster.

"It was supposed to paralyze him as soon as I touched him." Louie said as he scratched his head in confusion.

"Uh….hello? You're nowhere near enough to touch him! Of course it didn't work!" the little woman shouted once again, coming over to jump up and slug the spell caster in the back of the head.

As soon as she touched him, the magic triggered and caught the thief in its grip. She fell to the ground in a squawk followed by pissed off shouting. Louie looked blankly down at the girl while the warrior woman moved back and away from him carefully, never moving her eyes from him at any time.

"Let me guess." The warrior woman said as she put the sword away in the sheath at her hip. "She touched your hand and it paralyzed her instead."

"Louie!" the woman was shouting, nearly facedown except for her extended arm which was keeping her totally out of the dirt. "Fix me this instant so I can kill you!"

"There's a problem with that." Louie said as he weakly chuckled.

"LOUIE!" the little woman shouted again, vainly trying to force herself to move.

Turning from their antics, the storm armored warrior turned and walked to the doorways to the Mylee shrine. He stopped long enough for the door to open from the inside to look over his shoulder at the three people still on the top of the stairs as the guards came to question them, accompanied by a woman in purple and brown.

"Sir?" the guardsman said to him.

Turning from them, he stepped into the Mylee temple. He had words to speak with Priestess Jenny yet that needed to be spoken.


	6. Chapter 5

Once again, the author of this here story is trying to let everyone know that he doesn't own Rune Soldier, so stop asking :-þ What he can say is that the murderer that is referred in this story is his own creation and should die a horrible painful death (but then the story would have to end T.T)

For those of you who get to the part where there is a brief mention of a song being sung by the mercenary with no name (I'm lazy and tired, so he has no name for now) I will let you know now that what he is singing is a short song from the game Disgaea. I thought it would add something a bit more to him to give him something other than deadly skill and non-emotional comments.

150 views and still only 1 review... I need a shoulder to cry on...

* * *

She had gotten her first cleansing bath in the longest time, and she felt so much better for it. Stretching as she walked down the main hallway, she stopped long enough to see the novitiates practicing with their physical training with staffed weaponry in the main gardens of the temple. Gannet, Joan, and Anna were hard at work at their studies in the field, focused intently on striking with their staffs.

Maybe not so intently as Joan noticed Melissa and stopped what she was doing, raising her hand and waving enthusiastically to her. Anna and Gannet stopped as well, following Joan's view to who she was looking at, then also smiled brightly and waved to her. She smiled and waved lightly to the girls who were soon yelled at by their instructor and bowed in apology to her.

Melissa smiled softly at their affection for her, though she wondered sometimes if she deserved their adoration. She had taken them on their first test in the field so long ago it seemed to her, to which they had handled themselves better than what she had handled herself. She smiled wistfully as she thought back to those times and of their endearing actions afterwards, even going so far as to try to keep Louie out of their party and away from her.

She didn't move very far as she proceeded along the walkway to the next building when she came into view of High Priestess Jenny, the leader of their Mylee order. The brown hair of Priestess Jenny was still as luxurious as ever and made her think of how motherly she looked as she stood in her habit. Melissa walked over to her and bowed reverently to her.

"I have returned home, High Priestess." Melissa intoned and felt the soft touch of the elder priestess on her shoulder.

"I think that you need not bow to me, Melissa." She removed her hand as Melissa stood up straight with a little confusion as Priestess Jenny smiled kindly to her. "Still, it is good to see you again after so long."

A deep hurt around her heart seemed to let go as she closed her eyes momentarily, tears coming to her eyes as she reopened them to gaze at her mentor. "It felt like a long time being gone and yet I feel as if it was only yesterday." She dabbed at her right eye lightly. "I feel as if I came home and yet I only just left. Is something wrong with me for thinking that way?"

Priestess Jenny stepped forward and wrapped Melissa in her arms, laying her head against her shoulder. "Welcome home, dear." She said warmly to the ear of her disciple, wrapping her in a motherly hug.

"Excuse me, Priestess Jenny." One of the acolytes stood a few feet away, bowing lightly out of respect to her leader.

Releasing Melissa, she turned to the young acolyte. "Yes, what is it?" she said kindly, though her voice held a hint of concern.

"There is a man in the main hall of the temple." The acolyte's voice held a bit of a scandalized tone to it at the thought of a man in the main hall of the Mylee temple by himself. "He says you would see him immediately."

Priestess Jenny's eyes tightened reflexively and a grim look stole across her face for but a moment. "Thank you for informing me of his arrival, I will see him now." The acolyte saluted from her bowed position and turned, leaving back to her studies. Jenny worried at her lip briefly as she thought on this person before looking over at Melissa.

"If you are needed, I can join you later High Priestess." Melissa was already beginning to step back from her when Priestess Jenny forestalled her.

"If you wouldn't mind, I would like you to come with me." Priestess Jenny saw the brief surprise on Melissa's face. "I will step down some day, and it is good that my brightest see what must be done for all of us."

Melissa shivered slightly as Priestess Jenny walked into the building. Falling into step behind her, she thought lightly at how Priestess Jenny had always been there for all of them. She could not imagine the Mylee temple without her.

They walked in silence for a bit, moving down the hallways that hummed with the Hymn of Mylee, the song of praise that each priestess was required as soon as they joined the order to learn. It calmed her to the core to listen to the sound as it echoed through the walls and off every surface of statue and painting they walked by, though after awhile, she began to hear a different kind of singing coming from ahead of them.

She listened to it curiously for a little while, wondering as to the sad tune emanating from the main hall where the supposed man waited for Priestess Jenny. It was a sad tune, not the heartfelt Hymn of Mylee that urged a person on to courageous acts. It wrenched at her spirit gently, though she could feel as if there was something else missing from the song as the sole male voice sang quietly.

As both Priestess Jenny and Melissa came into the main hall, they saw the sole occupant in the room kneeling in front of the bust of Mylee, God of War. From his position, he appeared to be knelt in prayer to the great lord except that he kept singing the sad tune aloud. Priestess Jenny and Melissa both stepped toward him and as they got closer to his cloak shrounded form, they began to hear the words to his song lilting to them.

"Red moon, Red moon…." He took a soft breath as his voice ranged up and downward, dancing across the range of musical tones. "Cleanses the sinful and makes them anew…." Melissa shivered as she began to hear him more clearly, feeling horror at what he was intoning. "Shining brightly in the night sky…Waiting for the souls…"

She could almost feel something beyond her sight moving in the shadows of the room, feeling an unearthly darkness suffocating the light out of the room as they stopped behind him, looking down at his brown hair and storm cloud cloak. She shivered as if the very air had turned to ice, noticing that all presence of Mylee seemed to be void from the room.

"Who will be born again tonight?" He took a deep breath as if more lines wanted to leap from him only to catch his indrawn breath and stand in a fluid motion. His cloak rippled loudly in the room as he pulled it behind him in his turn, glaring at both Priestess Jenny and Melissa.

Melissa drew in a quick breath in surprise as she unconsciously stepped back once, covering her mouth in horror. Priestess Jenny never looked back at her, which may have been worse to see her mentor trying to comfort her in front of this person instead of keeping her gaze firmly locked on him. The man that stood before both of them was the murderer from this morning.

Neither Priestess Jenny nor the man spoke, choosing only to stand there and gaze at each other with hard eyes. To both Priestess Jenny and Melissa's surprise, he bent low and bowed gracefully to both of them in a motion that looked to hurt the body if tried.

"I have come to ask a favor upon the High Priestess of this temple." The man spoke low, his voice now no longer holding the melodious tone it had while he had sung.

Priestess Jenny didn't miss a beat, talking nearly on top of him as he finished speaking. "You ask much from us when you neither speak for guidance from our God nor for your blocking out the faith in our hallowed shrine before you."

Melissa shivered lightly, looking at the bust of Mylee behind the man. To her eyes, Mylee looked to be cast in a dark shade, his presence and even his benevolent calming spirit could not be felt.

The man reached into his cloak on his right side and quickly pulled out a parchment, holding it out before him in a clenched, gloved grip. "He said you would not do such a thing for me without first seeing this."

Again, Priestess Jenny spoke on top of his last word as soon as he finished. "I will not read anything you have to give to me. You are a foul creature in our temple and will be removed." A divine golden light began to form up around Priestess Jenny as Melissa watched, feeling her inner faith power her intent as she glared hotly at the man in front of him.

The man simply dropped his arm, though he didn't let go of the parchment in his hand. "I am being civil, High Priestess." The man said curtly, his cloak shivering once as an aura seemed to rise up from the man in front of them. "I have not come to destroy you or your religious beliefs, but you are posing a problem and I will kill everyone here to do what is necessary." His eyes seemed to draw in light as Melissa looked at him, feeling herself being sucked into a cold darkness in them. "I suggest you read the parchment."

Priestess Jenny stepped forward, maintaining her inner faith as she approached him and he raised his hand once again. Opening his tight grip on the paper, he offered it to her in an outstretched hand though she hesitated in taking it. She was feeling his power for herself and wondering if the man actually thought he was as dangerous as he thought he was, though she admitted to herself that he must be strong to suppress Mylee's will even in his own temple.

She took the parchment from him and stepped back, though never showed her back to him. Taking hold of the bottom page, she thumbed the seal and rolled the parchment open in her hand, glancing over the words placed on there. Her inner light died almost immediately as she reread the words on the parchment, seeing that it was indeed who she thought it had been to write this.

She let the paper roll itself up on its own as she released the top part of the parchment. Melissa looked to her mentor's face for thoughts to what was going on in her head, though only the hard glare of mistrust was placed there. Priestess Jenny held the paper in her hand with a resigned touch, hating what was written there, but if it was true then she must listen to it.

"Will you allow me the use of your temple at my leisure?" Melissa looked aghast as the man spoke this. Allowing him the right to come and go as he pleased as if he belonged in the order was preposterous. Of course, him even being in the temple was just as strange, yet here he was.

"I will." Priestess Jenny sounded as if she hated giving the acceptance of this. The man simply nodded to her and reached under his cloak, pulling out a weapon that seemed to be as dark as him yet held its own inner light. He spun it once, moving the hilt in his palm with a practiced motion as he held out the weapon to Priestess Jenny.

Stepping forward to take the weapon from him, she gripped it by its hilt and stepped back just as quickly once again. "In accordance with the agreement with High Mage Carwess, I will see to the restoration of this blade."

Melissa looked confused at Priestess Jenny, but quickly looked back at the man as he stepped toward them. "I will return for the weapon at that time." He said in a hollow monotone, passing both her and Priestess Jenny without concern, though his eyes did seem to glance at her momentarily. "I will leave the priestess up to your choosing…" he called as he stepped quickly, moving from the main hall before any answer could be given.

With his passing from the room, the light seemed to filter back into the room, brightening the alabaster and marble back to its bright gloss even as the presence of the great Mylee returned to the statue once again. The sounds of the Hymn of Mylee could now be heard, taking the breath taking fear she had once held and calming her soul.

Priestess Jenny seemed to wilt from the previous hard exterior she had held in front of the man, sighing raggedly as she held the sword in front of her. "It appears as if we will have another great problem to deal with soon."

Priestess Jenny looked sadly over at her disciple. "Melissa, I want you to do something for me."

Melissa felt a brief quiver of fear pass through her that must have shown itself on her face briefly. "I will do as I can, Priestess Jenny." She said with great reverence in her voice.

"Go to your friends and discuss what you saw here today with them." Melissa looked confused for a moment as Priestess Jenny continued. "I have a feeling that if anyone will be able to find a way in the days ahead, it will be you and your compatriots."

* * *

He left the city after dealing with the Mylee temple, heading back to the little shack outside of town. He needed no rest, yet must uphold at least the façade of being a person. It didn't bother him so much that the pretenses had to be upheld, little human emotion was all that he really had. The house wasn't too far away and the light on the inside didn't deter him as he went to enter it, though the brief blast of wind from the inside of the hut did bring him up short.

"You need to learn to respect your elders, elf." He said darkly as he pushed the sheet that was the doorway out of his way, entering into the one room shack.

Celecia blushed brightly at him as she covered her mouth in surprise. "You did say I could defend myself if I thought someone was trying to enter the house." She spoke up defensively as she slid away from him while he took a seat on the other side of the small cook fire.

"I suggest a Salamander next time instead of Sylph." He sat down, unsheathing the short sword from behind his back as he also reached and began to take all the weapons off of him. Several daggers appeared in his hands along with a strangle cord that looked like a thin necklace, he also reached up into the greaves on his hands and pulled out two small tonfa.

She had watched him for a few days now, and each day he disarmed himself, placing every weapon in its proper place, but not until he polished them, checked them for damage, and only then would he put them up for the night. He had quite the collection of weapons now, ranging from scythes of varying degree to giant swords and even maces and clubs. The weirdest weapon had to be a variation of a sword with hooks on the ends and crescent shaped blades attached to the grips.

"Any word of Dardanel?" He asked every day, and never seemed to tire of the question. Truly, he spoke of nothing else but this human named Dardanel, and it was driving her crazy.

"He is still hidden from the spirits." She offered to him, though she wished that there was some sign of him so she could go home. Living with him scared her to death. "Maybe he is truly dead." She offered weakly to him once more, receiving the same harsh glare at her as she had received the first time she had offered the suggestion.

"Did you find any clues in town that may help us?" She hoped that this time he would say something. He was an unemotional doll, a living being made to resemble a man, though truly dead inside.

"Unless you consider a fight between a thief, mage, and swordswoman clues, then no." He said as coldly as could be said, no life in the words, only stated facts.

Celecia thought back to a thief, a swordswoman, and a mage accompanied by a priestess when she heard this. She missed them now more than ever being confined to this man by the elders, their order to aid him coming all too soon for her tastes. "Nothing you couldn't handle, was it?"

The man laid back, choosing to continually wear his armor even while he slept. "The thief was annoying accurate, and quick for her size. The swordswoman however would make for an interesting adversary." Celecia listened closely to him, a hint of admiration possibly showing? "The mage isn't worth mentioning." His voice had returned to the dull monotone again, though this time it sounded far harsher.

"That bad was she?" Celecia winced as she imagined what may have happened.

"He paralyzed his own teammate, the thief." Disgust was definitely in his voice this time, though he had long ago closed his eyes. "Carwess must be slipping if students that age can't tell the difference between a paralyze spell and a petrification spell."

Celecia got a disturbing visual of that may have happened. "She must have been very upset."

"If all mages named Louie are that incompetent, magic will soon be forgotten everywhere." He sighed softly, though his eye opened and peered to Celecia as he looked in her direction.

She had slightly leaned toward him which was something she tried not to do around him, that was why his eye had opened at her actions. "The thief wasn't a short woman with blue clothing, and the swordswoman was red headed with a brown cloak?"

He watched her for a moment, studying her. She knew his adversaries from this afternoon, her face said as much though it said something else altogether. It said that she cared for them in some way as well. He was always interested in why mortals always watched out for one another, surmising that they only did so because they lived such short existences. She was an elf though and should not have such an attachment with them, yet it was plain that she did.

His one eyed stare disturbed her when he didn't speak up immediately, Celecia settling back against the wall and away from him as he closed his eyes. With the conversation officially finished, she drifted off into a light sleep while he merely waited, not requiring sleep in any form of it.


	7. Chapter 6

"I'm telling you that I'm sorry, alright?" Louie was staying as far away from Merrill as he could while he and the group were sitting in a circle in Genie's shack on the outskirts of town. She on the other hand was being held back by Melissa while she tried to get at him to beat her frustrations out of herself and into Louie's thick head.

"That man could have killed all of us easily." Genie had her arms crossed and had her eyes closed as she spoke what she felt was the hardcore truth. "You're lucky Louie hit you with that spell when he did, Merrill."

Merrill sat roughly down next to Melissa looking ticked off. "Like you know what it's like to lose your house three times…" She muttered loudly, feeling like there was some God of Fortune that was shunning her.

"In any event, Priestess Jenny dealing with the man herself is a bit out of the ordinary and the letter from whoever it was made her do what he asked of her." Melissa was looking at her friends faces, trying to gauge what they thought of what she was telling them. "Threatening to kill everyone at the temple, could he be so destructive?"

"A mercenary with some high powered backing." Genie was feeling that sinking feeling in the back of her stomach again as if the ground was sucking her in. "Add to the fact that the castle was repaired and the Mage School is saying that they had nothing to do with it. I get the feeling that he is much more than just a mercenary?"

"You're thinking he may have some magic on him as well?" Melissa glanced at Genie to Louie then back again. Merrill finally looking a little taken back by what she was hearing.

"All I'm saying is that we know nothing about him." Genie looked up into the faces of her friends faces, impressing upon her the importance of knowing their adversary. "Even Conrad dresses like a knight, but all of us know for a fact that he's no fighter."

"Yeah, put the guy in a wet burlap sack and he'd probably cast a fire spell for light." Merrill thought the whole prospect of Melissa's 'Fiancé' struggling to get out of a burlap sack humorous from the last few times he's tried to impress her with his greatness.

Ila wandered in from outside, pushing back the tarp of a doorway and stepping in, taking a seat next to Louie. "I've made arrangements with the guards at the castle for all of you to meet with the King at two this afternoon. Captain Barb will escort you all from the gatehouse outside the castle itself in to see him."

"Thanks a lot, Ila." Louie smiled at her, a small chagrined look on his face for asking her for a favor so quickly when they had only been in town for a few hours. "You're a real lifesaver."

"Oh, you know me. Always willing to help out when I can. Makes me feel like part of the group." Ila smiled up to Louie with a gentle smile on her face.

"In all honesty, Ila, You're more useful than muscle boy next to you." Merrill said with her tongue sticking out of her mouth as she stared at Louie herself.

"I said I was sorry, alright!" Louie got a look of open defiance on his face as he took a step toward Merrill, raising a fist in her direction. The nimble thief stood up as well and took a challenging stance in front of him, raising her own his with an angry grin on her face.

"I still want to know what was on that parchment that would make Priestess Jenny help that man out after such a hostile threat." Melissa was biting down on her thumb in thought as she wondered openly.

"Maybe we can ask the King himself, or maybe we'll find out from our friend Leonard." Genie said as she stood up and took the huge sword from her side, strapping it to her back.

"Remember that you're in the presence of Royalty." Jakinson was reminding them one last time as both he and Prince Littner were standing beside them in front of the royal throne room.

"That goes double for you, Louie." Merrill was looking up at Louie as if she was going to stick a knife in him from behind.

"Just keep your hands off the expensive pieces, Merrill." He was grinning down at her with a victorious snicker on his face. "In your case, that would be everything."

Merrill stomped his foot hard with her heel, making him grimace and whimper as he hopped around on one foot, holding his other one. The doors of the throne room opened slowly and the guards brought their spears up in a military salute. They proceeded up the long stretch of floor toward the king who sat regally on his throne. Kneeling before their Liege, they were all bidden to stand and address the king as if they were equals, if standing on a lower step than what he was sitting on.

"Your highness," Prince Littner bowed to the king without raising his eyes, a hand to his chest, "These are the people who stopped Dardanel from completing his plan of taking over the throne."

The king sat upon his throne looking down at the party assembled before him. He had been on many a campaign and before he had defeated the great dragon surt, he had been an adventurer much like the ones assembled here before him. The fiery red headed mercenary woman who was as muscled as he was could only be the fighter of the party. Her eyes were shrewd and probably could tell the situation of the fight with a cold calculated glance.

The little woman next to the Mylee priestess was not well equipped to be an additional fighter, though by her gaze around the room to a few of the paintings and even the tapestries that hung down from the ceiling, he could well guess that she was the thief of the party. He thought back to his glory days on how they had fallen into many a trap and stumbled into just as many secret passages, wishing that he had someone who could have aided their tasks faster than luck had provided for them. The Mylee priestess in question was one he knew from descriptions from Priestess Jenny. Though not remembering her name off the top of his head, he did remember how Priestess Jenny had said her innocence was as brilliant as the blonde hair she let cascade down her back.

Then there was the mage and troublemaker of the party, and this one he remembered easily. Story had it from the lips of Carwess himself that this was the person who had made himself the impromptu hero of the party, defeating Dardanel's plans and destroying half the castle in the process. A smile slipped onto his lips as he well imagined being the troublemaker of his party though thanking the powers that were that he never had the destructive powers of Carwess.

Standing to his feet, he raised his hands in welcome to the party before him. "Thank you for coming at my summons. I am King Rijarl, and I am in your debt."

"How much money does a King in Debt pay these days?" Merrill muttered to her friends, which brought a chagrined look to Melissa's face and an angry one to Louie's. Genie just ducked her face a little as a look of exasperation crossed hers.

Melissa stood forward for her friends, they had decided long before this to have her speak for all of them, being that she had been given the education for talking to nobility. Also everyone except one mage-in-training had agreed that anyone was better suited for talking to the king than Louie was. "King Rijarl." Melissa intoned lightly, deffering to him as she curtseyed to him. "We, your loyal subjects, did only what all of your citizens would have done in our stead had they been given the same opportunity as we were able to take."

"Be that as it may," the king said as he dropped his hands and once again to a seat on his throne, sitting on the cloak that was attached to his shoulders carefully, "It was you who came to not only my aid, but the aid of my son and my people." Prince Littner bowed ever so slightly at being mentioned, then looking with a pleased smile at his friends. "Speak your desire to me so that I may show you a small token of my appreciation."

Merrill jumped in front of Melissa, a look of greed glowing in her eyes. "I'd like to start with enough money to fill a room with followed by mmmphh…."

Genie and Melissa had both grabbed ahold of Merrill, preventing her from continuing her golden dream. She struggled in their arms over and over again with both Melissa and Genie telling her to calm down and get a hold of herself. While they were trying to control their thief counterpart, Louie stepped forward. "If it's not too much to ask, your majesty, we'd like to know what happened to Dardanel."

The king sighed on his throne and looked consideringly down at the gathered party before him. "To speak on this means that I am bringing you into the strictest confidence of even my most trusted advisors, High Mage Carwess and High Priestess Jenny."

This brought Merrill up short and both Genie and Melissa let go of their friend as what the king had said began to sink in slowly. "We understand that if Dardanel isn't taken care of, he'll come back and try harder next time to take the throne. I think I speak for all of us here that this can't happen."

Glancing to all the people nearby him, Louie could see that a serious look had sat upon all of their faces. This made Louie smile slightly to all of them, knowing that their thoughts were as his were.

"Very well, I will speak to all of you on this." Nodding to the guards at the far doors leading into the throne room, the guards turned and stepped outside, locking to door behind them so that they could not be interrupted. "Lord Dardanel as he went by while in the city was able to escape, this much even my spies could tell me. He headed toward the northern country where the lands of Ohfun do not reach as far as the any other direction."

"Toward the invading army." Genie thought to herself as the king continued.

"After he crossed the borders to the north, he subsequently disappeared." The king looked perturbed as he settled back into his chair. "My best men and even a few hired ones could not track him down as none of them have come back. All we know for certain is that he is seen occasionally near the border fortress and occasionally near the town, though always followed closely by three or four men, most likely a guard."

"So there's nothing that can be done about him." Prince Littner stepped forward, trying to help his father out in explaining how his father felt about finding him, but being unable to do anything about him.

"We have hired a mercenary in town to get him." Jakinson spoke up, noting the look everyone gave him, though the king seemed to regret this part. "He didn't want any payment, just as long as we could begin to help him in finding Dardanel. Apparently, he wants him worse than what we do."

"I would like to ask you for a favor." The king said from his throne, bringing back the attention of everyone in the room. "I will fund you for whatever you need for a venture to find and stop Dardanel from coming back into Ohfun, but I don't trust the mercenary. I have heard the rumors as I assume you have heard them by now, and what I hear makes me concerned."

"No kidding." Merrill said under her breath, and received an elbow against her arm from Melissa.

Louie stepped forward and placed his hand on his chest. "It would be an honor for us to serve our Liege." A gleam in Louie's eye screamed ultimate adventures ahead, though the looks he was receiving from his friends were screaming 'Idiot'.

"In that case, I want you to take this." The king offered something up to which Jakinson came up to him and took something from the king's hand, then came back down and handed what looked like a medal to Louie. "Without this, he will assume you are coming to fight him. He is very hostile to everyone and anyone that he doesn't know himself or approaches for his own benefit."

Louie looked at the medal that Jakinson handed him, noticing the magick glyph indented into the plate. He knew his own magicks were written in languages like this one, but this was beyond him, older than what he should know. Maybe he would run this by Ila when he left here with his friends, but for the time being he pocketed the medal.

"I will provide you with any weapons and supplies you'll need, and as much money as you may want as payment for saving the city." The king said as he beckoned a vassal to join them. The guards joined them moments after the vassal. "I wish you all the best, and may Mylee bless your coming victory."

They were walking outside of town, heading for Merrill's house where they had heard he had taken up residence from the thief herself. "Great, now we're teaming up with the house thief." They heard her complain once again, leading the pack as she reflexively reached for her knives.

"At least we're well armed and funded this time." Genie said as she touched the hilt of the sword at her waist, becoming more accustomed to the weapon at her hip as she walked onward.

"At least we'll be known as Heroes for doing this for the king and all of Ohfun." Melissa was giddy as a schoolgirl at the thought of Louie being called a true hero. It would mean the world to her as being the priestess of the hero, just as her idol Priestess Jenny was for King Rijarl.

"There's something that's been bothering me." Louie said barely audible enough to his friends. All of his friends looked toward him as he realized that he had spoke aloud. "That mercenary mentioned something about magick earlier today, and now this glyph on this medal that reminds me of a magick symbol."

"You think there's something involving magick in all of this?" Genie didn't exactly like the idea of magick being involved in her life, not because of Louie, but because she didn't trust anything that she couldn't feel through her arms when she slashed through it.

"It is possible." Melissa spoke up as the small shack of a house came into view of the party. "Dardanel was involved with the old magicks under the castle, it would be a perfect assumption that the mercenary may know something about what Dardanel may be up to next."

"Louie!" A high pitched female voice called to their ears, which brought everyone up short.

Louie looked around for the person that had called for him until he was glomped from above and collapsed to the ground in surprise as thin arms wrapped around his neck and someone landed lightly on him. Blonde hair blinded his eyes as he looked shocked up into the light sky blue eyes of the female elf, Celecia.

"Is that you, Celecia?" Louie said as she looked down into his face with a happy smile.

"It's been so long since I saw you last, how have you been?" Celecia said as she stood up and waited for Louie to stand up shakily.

"Celecia, what are you doing here away from the Tartious Forest?" Merrill came over and stood between Louie and Celecia, forcibly pushing Louie back from the elf girl.

"It's unusual to see you here so close to the city." Genie said as she came to stand at Louie's shoulder, eyeing the elf girl suspiciously.

"I, too, am also curious as to why you're here." Melissa came up and stood right behind Merrill and to Louie's shoulder.

"I was directed by the elders of the village to come here." Celecia had a chagrined look on her face as she looked worriedly at the shack behind her. "I didn't have much of a choice coming here."

"You've been staying here with that mercenary?" Merrill said with disbelief as she ran toward her house.

"Yeah," she said without any emotion in her voice, her eyes becoming haunted shells as she thought about the few months she's been here, "it's been a trial on my sanity. He doesn't let me get out too far from him."

"He's here?" Genie said as she pulled at the sword at her hip.

Merrill came up short in her dash for the door of her house as arrows shot out through the tarp, impacting into the ground in front of her foot by a few feet. She tossed two daggers back at the attacker, watching them slip into the sheet of a door only to have them turned back at where she had been moments later. Genie and Melissa came running up behind her, watching the house carefully for any other signs of attack.

Louie pulled his wand out and held it in his right hand, his left hand splayed out over the end of his wand as he readied himself for a magic spell. The roof exploded upward as the dark shadow of a man came bursting up through it and fell toward Genie, Merrill, and Melissa. The three women scattered before the shadow could land among them, the ground exploding up in a fountain of dirt from the impact of a great sword crushing the area where they had stood.

Genie slid her regular sword away as she pulled from her shoulder her own great sword to meet metal against metal. Melissa cupped her palms in front of herself as she chanted an oath to her God, magick given to her by her faith pulling into her hands and launching themselves at the man in golden streamers of light. He dodged into and around the golden beams, barely missing the attacks from the priestess as he turned and blocked the upward slash from the warrior woman.

Merrill sent two daggers toward him, one in front of the other in an attempt to make him believe there was only one attack. He turned in such a way that Merrill had to call out to Genie to watch herself as he twisted and pulled out of the way, nearly goading Genie into her own partner's attack.

As Genie pulled away from him and out of harm's way, Louie shouted a battle call as he came at the man from his blind side. His hands glowed from where he had imbued his fists with magically reinforcements, making them more powerful when attacking and hitting a lot harder. The man turned toward him without a look of shock on his face, usually something Louie saw a lot when he came at someone with his fists instead of his magick.

Lifting his sword over his shoulder and laying it to his back, the sound of metal striking metal rattled as Genie struck him from behind with a harder shot, one hand holding onto the hilt of his sword while he blocked and grabbed hold of Louie's hand. Louie looked surprised beyond comprehension as the mercenary began to mutter under his breath, his leather gloved hand glowed a dark gray color as the light from Louie's hand faded away.

"Begone from my sight, fool mage." The man said without the slightest bit of emotion in his voice. The light was snuffed totally from his hand as the gray one took the last of it in then reached toward the hand in his palm. He had only a moment to realize what had happened when he was thrown backwards from the mercenary with a scream.

"Louie!" Melissa ran over to him, grabbing his arm carefully as Merrill came at him from one side and Genie brought her sword back, spinning on her heel to turn and slice at the same time.

The man jumped straight up, avoiding the horizontal slashes at both levels as he kicked at Genie's head, knocking her toward Merrill as he flipped backwards and over Genie.

"Wait! Homun!" Celecia reached in and grabbed hold of his right arm, the arm which held the sword in one arm as if it was as light as a blade of grass in his hand. "They haven't come to fight you!"

He looked over at her in disbelief. "Why are they here then?"

"We came at the behest of the king!" Melissa said as she cast a healing spell on Louie's arm, his flesh slightly charred from his fingers to a little past his wrist.

"The king sent you fools?" He held the great sword over his shoulder, looking at the gathered friends as they took up defensive postures over Louie or was in the process of helping him.

Louie pushed Melissa away from him a little rougher than maybe she deserved as he stood up carefully and held the medal up from the king. "I was told that you would know what this means." Louie said as he held the medal before him, the glyph clearly visible to the mercenary.

The mercenary walked forward toward the medal, making no hostile motion toward the magician but receiving no leeway from any of the party as he came toward him. He pointed his finger at Louie as if in an accusation, though his face didn't hold any malice or, once again, emotion.

"You're holding it upside down." The mercenary simply commented.

The sound of a bird could be clearly heard some distance off in the forest.

"You're a magician and you can't even tell the difference between an upright symbol and an inverted one." The mercenary turned from them all as if unconcerned. "You're probably the stupidest mage I've ever had to deal with."

"Say that again! I dare ya!" Louie said as he took a step toward the mercenary.

"Ya know, you are pretty dumb, Louie." Merrill said as she glanced at over at the mage.

"I'd say his head was as thick as a stone, but that would be insulting stones in general." Genie said lightly as she stood up and resheathed her sword over her shoulder.

"This is totally against my will." came Melissa's trademark cry when she was totally disappointed in Louie's actions.

"Now, Louie, it's now as bad as they make it sound." Celecia smiled weakly at the outraged mage. It looked to her as if a vein was twitching on his cheek and an eyebrow was twitching over his eye.

"Useless." Genie spoke with a one word certainty

"Useless and clumsy." Merrill gave Louie a dirty look with her arms grasped in front of herself.

"So against my will." The sound of a whimper could be heard in her distraught voice.

"Would you guys give me a break? I said I was sorry already!" Louie turned around and railed at his friends who were giving him the third degree.

"If the king sent you, then he must have heard about Dardanel." The mercenary, Homun, spoke at last, breaking the endless repetition of insults at Louie.

"That's why we're here." Merrill said, stepping forward and expecting another fight any moment.

Homun looked over his shoulder at all of them, eyeing them up and getting a measure of them by a glance over. "Step inside, I think we should talk."


	8. Chapter 7

I would like to apologize to everyone who has looked in and has any kind of interest of reading this story by saying that I am the laziest S.O.B. on the face of the planet which will be explained later. Time For Another Disclaimer.

Disclaimer: The author of this fanfiction does not own in any respect the characters, places, instances, nuances, or anything else that is the trademark of Rune Soldier. The author only owns Homun and maybe other characters that will be added later if he feels so inclined.

* * *

"So, your name is Homun." Melissa spoke into the silence. Genie stood by the doorway with a wary hand at her hilt. Merrill stood on the other side of the doorway, though she was idly flipping a dagger up into the air and catching it one handed. Louie took a seat on the other side of the fire in the house, a fire which burned with no smoke or wood.

Celecia had sat down next to Louie, Melissa taking the other side next to him. The elf girl situated herself a little closer to Louie as if unconsciously wanting to be closer to him, though none of Louie's party was paying particular attention to them just yet.

The man named Homun sat at the fire with his arms crossed over his chest. Behind him were weapons of every sort that hung from pegs, racks, quivers, and any other item it could be packed into. It was an imposing view to look at the seated Homun while gazing over his shoulders at the various tools held there.

"How soon do we leave?" Homun asked them. Asked was being generous when it came to Homun speaking since he intoned it as a forceful question.

"You said we were to talk first." Melissa wanted to grind her teeth in frustration at this person. In the briefest of contacts she's had with him, he was physically hostile in everyone's presence. It was an impossible for him to have the king's backing in this endeavor and yet here they were, working under the king's direction to be with this…man.

"I don't need your help." Homun shifted his weight forward as if he meant to reach over the fire, the sound of Genie's sword leaping out of her sheath and Merrill's oath as she snatched the blade out of the air, making a second appear in her other hand as if by magic.

Celecia glanced around nervously at everyone, including Homun who simply rested back to his sitting position. "Your name…" Louie's voice broke the tentative balance in the air by drawing everyone's eyes to him. "I think I heard your name from somewhere." He said quietly, as if unsure if he should speak or not, but Homun eyed him as if he was a serious threat.

"It shouldn't be unusual for a mage to hear about my name." Homun said quietly, almost in the tone of a whisper. Melissa glanced at him, catching a look of what could almost have been sadness before his face set back to his unreadable mask. "I assume that you know Celecia." He looked toward the elf girl in question, which brought everyone's attention to Louie and Celecia.

By this time, she had managed to get her arm around Louie's and was laying her head up against his shoulder, her body leaning into his for comfort that she had sorely missed. Melissa, Merrill, and Genie all glared hot blooded death at Louie who could only look around at his friends and fear their wrath to come, a look of abject fear sliding on his face as his hair seemed to spike out in terror.

"We are not here to talk about elves and their morals." Melissa coughed into her fist as she sat up straighter. "We know where Dardanel was last seen at and were asked by the King of Ohfun to give you aid."

"I said before," Homun turned his uncaring eyes to Melissa, "I need no help from anyone. Especially from amateurs like you," he pointed at Merrill who took offense, "you," he pointed at Melissa who got an even more pissed off look on her face, "and especially him." Louie looked slightly shocked that someone could think they could do something without his great skills. "The swordswoman is about the only good one out of your group, and her skills are passable if not laughable." Genie's face grimaced as her hand tightened on the sword hilt.

"Be that as it may, King Rijarl asked for our help to aid you and we gave our word." Melissa didn't want to look at him, her litany of 'Against My Will' playing over and over in her head as she tried to control her temper.

Homun stared from the priestess to the swordswoman to the thief before returning his eyes to the mage. He remembered a time when someone had given their word to him, someone that he had trusted without question or exception. "All right then." He stood, his cloak rustling at his feet as he adjusted himself and reached for the elvish bow from Celecia's hometown and a five foot pole.

Genie had gone to pull her weapon from her sheath by instinct, only she felt no hostility from the man and replaced the weapon back to her side. He was gathering his weapons for the battle to come. Maybe the journey ahead of them would need them. Motioning Merrill to replace her daggers back into the hidden sheaths on her person, she opened the doorway and stepped outside. Merrill followed her, though she gave a longing look over her shoulder to her once immaculate home.

Louie stood, though awkwardly as Celecia wouldn't let go of his arm. Melissa stood as well as she went to leave the house. She came up short as Louie spoke. "How are you doing that?" he said to the back of Homun who turned at his question. "The flame." Louie gestured to the flame that burned and gave off light but no heat. "How are you maintaining that flame without anything feeding off of it?"

"A spell." Homun simply uttered, spinning his fingers from last to thumb overtop the flame. The flame guttered out as if in a draft and the light disappeared except for what was coming from around the doorframe. Melissa pulled the sheet back, letting light into the room and nearly jumped out of her skin as Homun stepped past her without making a sound.

Louie and Celecia walked past Melissa, Melissa still noting that Celecia had never let go of his arm. Coming outside and taking up her regular spot between Merrill and Genie, they began walking after Homun as he headed for the city gates.

* * *

"Are we really trusting this guy?" Merrill whispered under her breath while they walked to the front gates of the city.

"I don't trust him as long as I can see him, and not much further if I can't." Genie muttered gruffly, making sure that her eyes never left the back of Homun.

"This is so against my will." Melissa said as she pulled the cowl of Celecia's hood over her head a bit more, wanting to hide those perfect features from the human eyes of the guards nearby.

Louie didn't say anything, still wondering as to the magic the man had used. He had never heard about a spell that could be cast to create an artificial flame, let alone light from it. He stared at the back of Homun wondering just what kind of person and magic was he.

Celecia had only let go of Louie's arm just long enough to put the cloak with hood on, then had taken hold of his arm once again and refused to be moved too far from him. It wasn't that the human city was as bad as she felt, but it was the presence of Louie who had been nothing but kind to him ever since she had met him that first time in the Tartious forest.

The glares from the Melissa, Merrill, and Genie were a bit toned down from earlier, now realizing how long she had been with Homun. They could only imagine what she had gone through in his presence.

"Who goes there?" came the cry from the guard house as Homun started to walk through the gates without acknowledging the guard captain.

Homun glared a challenge at the guard who had spoken and silenced him with just a look. The guard stepped back instinctively, as if he was trying to get away from his sight. A second guard stuck his head out of the guard house to see what had suddenly hushed his commanding office, but one glance at Homun and the man disappeared back inside the building.

"Insects." Homun muttered as he continued past them, Louie and his entourage following shortly behind him.

"Hey, they're just trying to do their job." Louie said in the guard's defense. Homun gave a one eyed glance over his shoulder at Louie then turned his gaze back forward.

Once far enough away from the town, Homun stopped his leading. He turned to the party, the staff over one shoulder sticking far into the air above him. "Where is he?" Homun demanded of Louie, who looked surprised at being addressed.

"Far to the northern lands, near the mountains." Genie said as Homun turned in the direction of the mountain range. "We came into contact with a large force of men up there while on a ruin hunt. Apparently, the men we fought near the border of Ohfun were some of Dardanel's forces."

"An army." Homun's eyes squinted at a remembrance of the past, of a large scale force sent against the mage elite and the school they had created to teach others their craft so that magic could never be lost.

Homun lifted one hand at a time before him, rubbing his index finger in a complex pattern over the backs of each hand. Once finished with his hands, he did the same for his shoulders and one for the tip of his cloak before letting it go and heading out toward the north.

"What was that he just did to his body?" Melissa said, curious to their tentative partner.

"He was making glyphs." Celecia spoke up, drawing the eyes of the few people to her. "Whenever he was preparing to go out to a job, he would draw markings like that on his hands. You can't see what it is that he draws because he's using very old magick. My eyes barely pick up the image he made of them, but it appeared to be wardings."

"What kind of wardings?" Merrill said as they began to walk after him, though keeping a lot of space between him and them.

"His hands looked like reflex glyphs to help him move his hands faster than normal." Celecia pulled back the hood of her cloak so it lay on her shoulders behind her. "The cloak was an illusion glyph, to make it look like he was in front of someone, like an afterimage. His shoulders were something I've never seen before."

"Hey, Louie." Merrill elbowed Louie in the thigh and he turned his head to look down at the thief. "Why have you never done stuff like that before? Those glyph thingies would be mucho helpful in a fight."

"Louie wouldn't be able to make those. They're way beyond him." Celecia said bluntly, though trying to make her voice sound light as not to hurt Louie too badly with this statement.

"A lot is beyond Louie." Genie muttered sadly, disappointment laced in her voice.

"That's right." Louie had a depressed look on his face as his posture sagged under the weight of the world. "Pick on the _porter_"

"I didn't mean it like that Louie." Celecia said, looking up at Louie as she tried to make him feel better. "His magick is extremely old, way older than the common magicks of today. He could probably take on the entire school of your town and not break a sweat if they tried coming at him all at once."

"He's that powerful?" Genie said as she turned her eyes back toward Homun.

"If I had to take a guess, he's a lot more powerful than what we've seen." Celeica remembered playing with Sylph a mere few days ago only to have Sylph stop in mid-motion and float over to him. When someone summoned a spirit of the elements, the summoned spirit was not supposed to go to another person without direction.

"He is a true Rune Soldier." Celecia thought to herself as they continued walking after Homun.

* * *

Night had come and they were thankful for the sleep, though Homun refused to do any work toward making camp, finding firewood or food, and even going so far as to refuse helping with the tent. He simply stared uninterested at all of them at mentioning resting and walked off into the darkness. Celecia stayed near the group, though she stayed deliberately nearer to Louie than anyone else.

A small fire had been created and some meat from a satchel had been placed to cook. Some nuts and berries had been gathered up for variety, though no one seemed in the mood to eat anything.

"This totally sucks." Merrill spoke into the crackling of the fire, keeping her gaze down at the dancing flames. "Not even one full day at home and we're already out on the road again."

"I know what you mean." Melissa said as she sat down beside Merrill, taking up a spot between her and Genie. "I would have liked to sit down and at least rest my feet, but fate had a hand in this task."

"Nothing fate like about our involvement with him." Genie said with her arms crossed before her, staring at the place where Homun had disappeared.

"So, Celecia," Louie looked down at the elf girl, who still had a grip around his arm, "What exactly did you mean that he was a true Rune Soldier?"

The girls glared darkly at the elf girl for a brief moment before Celecia relinquished her grip around Louie's arm and sat up straighter, pushing back a lock of hair behind her ear as she stared intently into the flames before them. "Long, long ago, back when man was first shown the powers of Magick, there were those who believed it possible to balance the martial skills of the sword with the mental skills of a mage."

"They believed that it was not only necessary to defend themselves with armor and weapon, but with magick and mind as well, becoming a true deadly weapon that could attack in many different ways and patterns." Celecia shuddered as she remembered what the Eldars had told her about them. "I wasn't born then, but I heard from the Eldars that Rune Soldiers were nothing short of a living weapon, made for only killing."

"During the war of Magick, Rune Soldiers were sent in droves against Kingdoms and even each other, slaying countless lives before all but a few of them were vanquished. Kingdoms were destroyed or created through their involvement and many times controlled by said Rune Soldiers." Celecia came to a stop, feeling a cold chill as if someone had walked across her grave. She wrapped her arms around herself, trying to find some kind of warmth once again.

"So you think he's some kind of super mercenary?" Merrill wasn't about to call him a rune soldier, it was only a story after all.

"I mean he's a Rune Soldier." Celecia gave a desperate glare at Merrill, trying to impress upon her that it was the truth.

"It is true that he is skilled with a weapon. Not many can keep up with me and I felt him pressing my skills to the limit from the last time." Genie sat back and raised her head up slightly from the brooding slump she had been in, thinking back to how he managed to read both attacks from his back and the side slash. Even managing to guess at Merrill's attack without having to look in her direction meant he knew how to read people.

Louie had his arms crossed in front of himself, an upset look on his face. Melissa noticed it first and spoke up. "What's the matter, Louie?" she asked him, wanting to know if he was thinking anything truly heroic.

"I was a Rune Soldier before him, why does everyone have to copy me?" He muttered sadly, all but Melissa falling on their sides in disbelief.

Melissa thought to herself "Should have known" as everyone righted themselves, a look of mock laughter on her face so that she didn't have to tell him the simple truth.

"The day you actually become a good swordsman is the day I eat my jacket." Merrill pumped a fist in the air toward Louie.

"Never in a million years." Genie muttered nearly on top of Merrill's words.

"This is so against my will." Melissa sighed sadly, the futility in wanting him to be a hero crawling all over her face.

Louie wanted to cry from the abuse he was getting, but he simply made a upset sound in his throat and turned his head from them. Celecia couldn't help but smile at their antics, she had truly missed being around normal people and Louie's company had helped the most.

Genie nearly went rigid with barely held motion as Homun walked past her. She had never heard his approach, yet he had gotten so close to her that she had to smell his leather armor before noticing him. He walked as silent as a ghost over the grass and few sticks on the ground, not breaking a single one as he sat down on the other side of Celecia. Instinctively, she grabbed and held onto Louie's arm, looking over her shoulder at Homun.

"We'll be safe till morning. There won't be any need for a guard tonight." Homun spoke softly, his voice barely carrying any farther than the small camp that they had made for themselves.

Everyone looked at each other skeptically before looking back over to Homun. "You weren't gone long enough to prepare traps, and I didn't hear anything like metal being placed out there." Merrill said as she glanced around at the edges of their encampment.

"A spell." Genie spoke the obvious, which Homun nodded to.

"I laced the area with spells." Homun said as he slid his sword from his side, and began removing an assortment of daggers, throwing stars, darts, and other small projectiles. "Nothing taller than a rabbit will be able to get into the area, and I suggest to all of you to not go outside of the camp for your own benefit."

Merrill counted the various tools he was laying out, making a mental note to not get into a prolonged fight with Homun as he kept unhooking more and more small arms from his body and from inside his cloak. Genie was also noting what he was pulling off of him, but she was more concerned about what he wasn't pulling off of him. Melissa looked around the encampment once again before turning her untrusting eyes to Homun, who neither looked at anyone or anything.

"What kind of spell did you set?" Louie asked as he looked into the darkness, the sound of crickets and night animals beginning to wake as the stars appeared one by one through the trees above them. "I can't sense anything out there magical at all."

"That's because Sylph's hair isn't a spell." Homun said as he looked over at Celecia and Louie, the look of patience mixed with contempt on his face. "Sylph's hair is finer than that elf's hair, but it cuts through anything and everything the same. Nothing can block it, save for perhaps a highly powerful magick ward."

Homun sat cross legged with his hands resting on his thighs. "Anything that powerful and we'll be in deep trouble." Homun closed his eyes and cast his senses outward form them. "From what I can tell however, Magick has declined greatly. I'm surprised you mages can get dressed properly in the morning." Mages had been said in such a way as to be a dirty word, holding all the disgust Homun could put into it.

"You talk as if you knew of times when Magick was at its peak." Melissa glared an accusatory look at Homun, who looked uncaring at her.

He shifted in his place, wrapping his hands around one arm and the other by his sword hilt. His head bent where he sat and it was apparent to everyone that he fully intended on falling asleep sitting up. Unnerved by how the man seemed to ignore the fact that he was surrounded by those who did not want him around, everyone agreed to turn in.

* * *

Everyone can blame me for being lazy, I know I was being that way. I'm not at my best work until I'm three RPG's involved and halfway through before I get bored with those and need to come back and write some more. (So fricken lazy)

Anyways, Dardanel's location has now been given to Homun and the hunt begins for the most dangerous man of all Ohfun. What will Homun do to him if he ever finds him? I think you all might have a guess as to the power Homun supposedly has, but will Louie and party allow it to happen? Will Louie ever get any respect from his compatriots, or is he just looking to get some elf tail? Only time, and the author, will tell. T.T.F.N. .


	9. Chapter 8

Drea God, is it that time again? This chapter feels a little shorter to me than the other ones do, but then again, I'm lazy. This thing nearly went a month without an update, that should prove to you how lazy I am. (not really, but let's just say anyways)

**Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to use any and all characters associated with Rune Soldier, nor do I own the rights to use places, emotions, clothing, or anything even related to the series Rune Soldier. I only own Homun.**

* * *

Louie yawned in the early morning light. The sun was starting to rise through the trees as he finished up the last watch. He hated last watch almost as bad as he hated being treated like a raw adventurer by his friends. Genie kept beating it into him that his sword skill was never improving, Merrill was always berating him cause his magic was never up to 'mage' like legends, and Melissa was either sighing at him or praying to Mylee while she muttered "This is totally against my will."

Now there was a new person they would have to travel with and he flat out thought of him as useless. The only one who even came remotely close to being nice to him was Celecia, and there had been a few occasions where she had deceived him. Granted, she had her duty to do and all, but if felt to him that there was some sort of God out there that was out to get him.

Louie looked down at the golden hair of Celecia as she slept nearby. She slept peacefully, her cover rising and falling in a slow motion as her face held a soft smile. Louie could only smile down at her peaceful look, feeling the urge to want to stroke her hair while she slept. He couldn't help but smile down at her and give up the ill feeling he felt this morning.

Looking up and across from where he sat, be began to look around at his surroundings. The fire had died out long ago last night during Genie's shift, though it was a bit odd for her to let it totally die out. She had mentioned not to worry about it as she crawled off to get a few hours of sleep in, though she had looked over toward someone last night.

Looking in the direction she had glanced at some time ago, he looked over at the slumped form of Homun once again. He couldn't get the feeling out of his head that he shouldn't take his eyes off the man, not for a second. He looked at the man once again, studying him while he slept for what felt like the fifth time.

His brown hair framed his face as he slumped forward in sleep. His hands never moved, no matter how he breathed or how his body slightly adjusted itself while he slept. They were the constant to his sleep, never moving too far from the hilts and never unclenching from around them. His skin in the rising sky looked almost too pale to be human, though not something you were really looking at when it came to him.

Louie then looked harder at the markings along the trim of the cloak. With the light starting to come to them from the rising sun, it was easier for Louie to make out that there was markings there along the inside edge of his cloak, spell components from what Louie could see from them. Added to those were the spells that Homun had briefly scribed into the shoulders and hands and even the bottom corners of the cloak, he was a walking magic spell.

The way he handled himself was something Louie could only dare to dream about since his last exploit at sword and spell had ended up with him and his friends literally punching out a magical shield to stop Dardanel from casting something beyond sanity. Thinking of Dardanel, Louie dipped his head slightly as he thought about the man who had tried to be King. He had tried almost anything to usurp the throne from Rijarl, even going so far as to create a dragon with ancient magicks.

Though Foltess had been absolved of any wrong doing due to his overzealous desire to become the next head of the magic guild, he still had been given a scathing by Carwess before given some 'time off' from his duties for him to refocus himself. In all honesty, Louie would have preferred something a little more punishing than taking him away from the school which he loved to lord over, but he couldn't blame Foltess himself. The old coot just couldn't keep his nose out of things that didn't need messed with.

He was on his feet faster than Louie would have believed, coming out of a dead sleep as he rose up and glared contempt at him. Homun had risen nearly quiet from a sitting position to a full stand in one full motion as if he had been waiting for that moment to get to his feet and attack. It weirded Louie out, giving Homun an incredulous stare that screamed surprised.

"You're not ready to travel." Homun stared at him as if it was his fault for keeping Homun here any longer than was absolutely necessary.

"Of course not!" Louie tried to keep his voice low as he spoke to Homun. "The sun isn't even up enough for breakfast yet and Genie's been asleep for maybe three hours."

"That's not my problem." Homun had kneeled back down and began resheathing every little projectile he had on the ground with a practiced motion. His weapons disappeared under his cloak as if he was an old hat to this sort of thing.

"We're beat, in case you haven't noticed." Louie was getting aggravated with Homun quickly. It may have had something to do with them never getting the proper rest they should have after coming back to town from their six month sojourn, but Louie was leaning more toward really not liking this guy.

Homun simply looked at him. He didn't have to speak, he simply gave him that stare that spoke all too well to Louie. He knew that stare as the one the girls always gave him when they were disappointed in him, the one that said he was a joke. He hated that stare more than anything, but most of all, he hated feeling like he deserved that stare.

Louie stood up roughly, barely touching Celecia with his foot as he steadied himself and raised his wand in front of him, his other hand splayed behind it as he readied himself to cast a spell. Homun never raised his hands as he stood off against Louie, waiting to see what the little mage could do with his magic. It was true that Louie had tried to paralyze him before and didn't realize he cast a touch spell instead of an actual magick spell, but it didn't make him totally inept.

Louie closed his eyes and chanted softly on his lips, barely breathing outward as he summoned the magick up into his hands and through his staff. His staff tip lit briefly with a barely held spark of flame that grew slowly. He thought there was a motion down by his leg, something that flickered at the edge of his perception, but he was focused on what he wanted to do and there wasn't anything that was going to stop him from making this spell work.

Homun watched as the spell began to spin together, concentrating a flaming ball on the end of Louie's staff. His eyes shifted to slits as the spell briefly intensified and tied off around the flame, creating the projectile that he was intending on using. Louie didn't hesitate as he cocked both his body and arm to the side before thrusting the mage staff toward Homun, the ball of flame leaping off of it and jumping the distance to him.

To Louie's credit, the spell worked exactly as it was supposed to. The flaming ball impacted into Homun's chest with a brief flare of flame and exploded against him. Scrabbling feet came from the tent as Merrill burst forth, closely followed by Genie and Melissa. Celecia had been tugging at the hip guards on Louie for a time now, unable to get his attention and could watch in mute shock as Louie's spell washed over Homun.

The flames died out as soon as they hit him, a single wreath of flame passing over his face and down over his legs before simply going out. Homun didn't even looked like a hot wind had even blown in his direction as the look of victory on Louie's face fell to that of indignant shock. Homun reached with one gloved hand to his chest and idly brushed at it, making the anger reach Louie's face once again.

"At least you can cast an effective spell." Homun turned without saying anything else and walked off into the woods, leaving the party to watch him.

Louie couldn't believe it. A fireball to the face at close range and it didn't even singe the man's shirt underneath the armor chest plate. Frustration passed its way through Louie in waves that he couldn't reign in, nor did he feel like he wanted to. He was going to find some way to get back at Homun, it was just going to take some time, and maybe some practice along the way.

* * *

The party traveled on the road in silence. Genie was as watchful as she ever was, even on a few hours of sleep. Merrill walked in between Homun and Louie, trying to keep Louie from doing something else that would just make things worse for all of them. Melissa walked by Louie, looking worriedly up into his face while Celecia hung on his arm. 

They didn't really get an explanation as to why Louie had tried to fight Homun, only catching the last part of the fight that wasn't much of a fight as far as they were concerned. Homun continued to be the impromptu scout of the party, staying fairly ahead of the rest of them and only idling back to them when they came to a crossroads.

The women were all worried about Louie. They'd never seen such a look on his face before. Worse, he wasn't his normal hyperactive, bragging self either. Whatever had passed between the two stayed between the two as no one wanted to question Homun and Louie refused to answer. Though occasionally Genie and Merrill would glance back at him, it was ultimately left up to Melissa and Celecia to try and cheer Louie up.

Around midday, the party came across an inn on the side of the road with a construction crew set up nearby. The old caretaker of the inn was stading outside, watching the workers gather up the necessary lumber and head off down the road in their wagons. Homun had taken up a stance in front of the old innkeeper, which was not a good sign to anyone. Celecia had her hood up before anyone could make out her ears.

"How much longer do you think it will take for them to fix the bridge across the river?" Homun was asking the aging old man as he scratched his chin in thought.

"Hhmmm, let's see…." The old man's age cracked voice spoke weakly as he mentally added up the days. "I believe it'll take another week for them to complete the bridge as it stands."

Homun's face looked like it was about to turn even harder than ever. "Is there an alternate path that we can take to go around?"

The innkeeper thought again for a moment before shaking his head. "I believe I was told a few days ago that there had been men at certain places along the ravine ahead that had either destroyed the bridges in both directions, or had simply begun to ambush people and prevent them from crossing."

Homun looked pissed. "You know this how?" he spoke darkly, though the innkeeper didn't seem to mind it too much.

"A man in silver armor and a white steed had come riding through here, claiming he was going to catch the bandits and continue searching for his bride who seemed to have disappeared from the capitol." Melissa's face blanched as she heard the description. "When he went to ride against the people at the bridge, I sent my help to go see if he succeeded or not."

The old man motioned to a boy who was sweeping out a stable nearby, a lad of about 11. His clothes were as dirty as he was, patched and patched again that would make you wonder if he had anything cloth like left on there under all the patches.

"The boy came back not too long afterwards saying the thieves not only beat the poor man off his horse, but subsequently cut the supports out from the other side of the bridge and threw the man in after it." The old innkeeper shook his head. "Strangest thing I ever heard, trying to take on four men from horseback and still losing."

"Sound like anyone we know?" Genie asked idly to Melissa, who looked like she'd rather forget she heard anything at all.

"Yeah," Merrill said as she cupped her hands behind her head and stood idly by, while peering at Melissa with one eye, "like some idiot from a certain country who doesn't get the message."

Homun began to walk away from the inn, continuing down the path toward the bridge. No one tried to stop him as he made his way down the road. There wasn't any place for him to go to, so they might as well wait here at the inn for him. Merrill bargained with the innkeeper for rooms for everyone, and since the inn wasn't making any money with a closed down road, she managed to skin some more coin off the bill.

"Do you think he'll be back?" Melissa spoke as she watched Homun walk down the path after the workers.

"He's got nowhere else to go." Merrill said as she reached back up behind her head and stood mostly on one foot. "Frankly, I wish he'd just go away."

"I meant the man the innkeeper was speaking about." Melissa idly thought of the person, hoping beyond hope that it wasn't who she thought it was.

"Even our luck isn't that bad." Genie said, her eyes closed as she hoped to herself that their luck truly wasn't that bad.

"I don't know about that, Genie. All our bad luck started with Louie, remember?" Merrill's eyes slanted to those of cats only to return back to normal as she noticed that Louie wasn't with them anymore, and neither was the innkeeper. "Louie?" Merrill spoke up, drawing even Celecia's gaze with the spoken question as they now realized their friend was no longer among them.

"Do you think he's alright?" Melissa asked aloud, walking into the inn behind Genie and Merrill.

"After the beating to his pride, who can say?" Genie said as she took a seat at an empty table. Truthfully, the common room was totally empty save for the furniture, which made Genie relax just barely. "He's had a rough few days, especially when around that man."

"You mean you've faced Homun before?" Celecia sat down across from Genie as Merrill took the side closest to the door and Melissa took the other side of the round table.

"That's right." Melissa said as she looked over at Celecia. "We haven't told you about when we got back to town yet, have we?"

* * *

Louie had gone straight to his room, being around his friends was hurting him more than he wanted it to. He'd heard nothing from them in over the few days they had returned back to Ohfun other than their snide jokes and Melissa's trademark belittling of him. On top of that, Homun had bested him just this morning, and he hadn't even tried to defend himself. 

What hurt the most was what Celecia had told them about Homun just outside of Ohfun as they left the castle. If Homun was a true Rune Soldier, Louie would eat his boots! Sighing greatly, he had a feeling that he needed to take his boots off and ask if he could have something with them to make them go down easier.

In terms of power, Louie gauged that Homun was so much beyond him, it was sad. He always tried to gauge his magick by his adopted father, High Mage Carwess, but seeing Homun simply allow a fireball spell to wash over him at that close nearly broke him. He never wanted to be a mage as badly as right now, and at the same time, he wished he was never a mage to begin with.

He laid down on the bed with his arms splayed out above him, staring at the ceiling as his mind danced from one problem to the next. Ila would be chiding him for his misery and his lax studies in the art of magick, though she'd probably be trying to pick his spirits up too. He had never missed his friend more than he did right now.

* * *

"I had wondered if that was you he had mentioned." Celecia said as she finished listening to the confrontation they had with Homun in front of the Mylee temple. 

"If Louie knew the difference between a contact spell and a projectile spell, we'd have beaten him." Merrill muttered as the old innkeeper came over to the table and placed mugs of ale before the ladies, though Celecia received a mug of wine.

"If you didn't hit Louie and get paralyzed instead, we'd all be dead." Genie said as she raised her mug to her lips and took a long drink from it.

Merrill glared hot death at Genie who simply chose to ignore her friend's wrath.

"Did anyone notice anything odd about Louie since this morning?" Celecia asked Louie's traveling companions, hoping they realized how miserable he truly was.

"I think that's obvious what his problem is." Merrill said behind her mug as she turned her eyes from those sitting at the table with her.

Everyone looked sad, mostly because he always tried so hard and ended up failing. Louie's heart was in the right place, everyone there knew he tried his heart out for them all the time. They didn't feel like talking for a long time afterwards as they stared into their drinks for great epiphany to strike them. Unfortunately, that great epiphany came through the door on a white steed.

A white horse with a gilded saddle backed idly into the common room of the inn itself. The innkeeper began to yell profusely for his stable boy at the same time he came running out of the kitchen, though his yelling was cut short as the horse cleared the threshold. Being dragged by the horse through the front door was none other than a dazed Conrad.

"What was that you were saying about our luck not being that bad?" Merrill asked darkly as they all recognized the stupid look on the blonde's face, the pinwheels in his eyes making him look an even bigger fool.

* * *

Homun walked up to the gorge, the workers bleeding out behind him. They had tried to prevent him from coming this far, tried to stop him from seeing what was going on. The swords they had hidden away in the wagons had come out soon afterwards when he slew the first man. 

He had given them a cursory check, rummaging through their garments to see who they were affiliated with. The few gold coins made them out to be mercenaries, much like the ones that the innkeeper had spoken about. Obviously, these men were making sure the bridge was being built much slower than it needed to be, though from the look of it, they hadn't begun to build anything.

Supplies aplenty had been brought and simply tossed over the side, and with the workers turning everyone back from the gorge itself, no one would be the wiser. He was definitely on the right track.

Reaching into one of his leather sacks at the back of his waist, he pulled out a piece of pumice stone etched with a mystic symbol. He came back and found a fairly flat spot not covered by blood that he placed the piece into the ground and muttered off a verse of summoning. From out of the ground rose what appeared to be a Golem, though vines and plants were draped and wrapped around this creature. It inhaled and exhaled hollowly as if it were a breathing cave.

"Titan, worker of the earth, I have need of your skill." Homun spoke reverently to the creature before him, inclining his head to it.

"Speeeeeeaaaaaaak." The long drawn out word would have sounded weird had it come from mortal lips, though no person could ever call this creature mortal.

"I need to span this chasm before me." Homun directed the gaze of the earth made creature before him. "Foolish mortals destroyed a bridge to cross this gap. My task lies beyond it."

The creature seemed to be fascinated by the expanse. Once Homun had shown it where the bridge had been, the creature could not seem to tear its gaze away for anything. It peered at it for minutes on end before finally turning to Homun.

"Oooooonnnnnnneeeeeeee dddaaaaaaaaaayyyy." The creature seemed to sigh out as it spoke, then turned from Homun and moved through the surface of the ground without having to step. The ground rolled up and over its surface to lie flat behind it.

Homun turned from the creature as it moved to the edge of the crevasse. He began to walk away from the bodies and from the creature behind him, heading back up the path to the inn where the rest of his entourage would be found. He had no doubt that Titan would complete it's work as it had said, elemental creatures could never lie.

* * *

I still think this is a little shorter compared to the other chapters, but hey, shorter may be better. I'll never know unless someone complains. First time seeing an earth spirit, huh? everyone takes earth spirits for granted, always walking all over them. 

What? You want to complain about me bringing Conrad into the picture? It wouldn't br a Rune Soldier without Conrad, or those god awful flowers from his kingdom. (toilet something, I'll have to look it up later) T.T.F.N.


	10. Chapter 9

Homun had returned before the sun had gone down, stopping only long enough to be directed by the innkeeper to his room. When he had seen that Louie was sulking in the same room that Homun was to sleep in, he turned to the Innkeeper and told him he would be taking a separate room. The Innkeeper merely nodded at the request and showed him to an unused room down the hall where only a single bed was stationed inside.

Merrill wanted to chew through nails when she found out that Homun had taken it upon himself to demand a room to himself as the Innkeeper was kind enough to inform her that the price for the extra room would be added to their bill in the morning. Genie had gone outside to work on her sword skill, practicing with the massive sword before deciding to do something menial around the inn like chopping wood.

Merrill helped out inside the inn herself, trying to cut down on the price of the rooms by pitching in her services to the Innkeeper by working in the kitchens. Honestly, the Innkeeper didn't need the extra help in the kitchen, but the diminutive thief wasn't listening to him in the least bit.

Celecia had disappeared upstairs after Conrad had been drug in by his horse, opting not to deal with another human. She had not been seen since, and dinner was coming closer and closer with the sunset. This left Melissa to her own devices as she sat in the main hall, praying to Mylee for divine guidance and for a miracle that Conrad would stay unconscious for as long as they were at the inn.

Her plea must have gone unanswered as the Silver armored man came down from the floors above, scratching his head as he looked for the Innkeeper. His gaze quickly fell upon the Mylee priestess and with a cheer of delight he leapt lightly down from his footing on the stairs onto the nearest table.

This would have gone as he had planned had he figured in that his armor made him weigh and additional 100 pounds or more as his weight broke the table in half, the resounding crash and rattle of metal hitting solid stone flooring echoing throughout the inn and even a few miles down the road. Melissa put an exasperated smile on her face as a sweatdrop hung at her temple.

Conrad leapt to his feet as if the fall was exactly what he had planned as he smiled, a gleam on his teeth making his face look as if sculpted from Adonis. His blonde hair seemed to gleam from some light source from above, though no source could be found. "Oh, my dear Melissa." He cried aloud, proclaiming with his every word how much he loved this woman. "I've ridden leagues all over this back water country looking for you. I had heard that you had fled Ohfun after that idiot of a mage had destroyed the castle."

Melissa composed her face to a semblance of calm, though the word 'idiot' irked her on some level. Merrill only called him an idiot to tease Louie sometimes, but he was hardly an idiot. He was…exuberant when it came to handling matters. "I see you're little adventure at the bridge hasn't slowed you down in the least, Conrad." Melissa said curtly, though trying with all her might to be polite, as Mylee decreed.

"Ha!" Conrad scoffed as he flicked golden hair from his face. "As if some brigands cutting a bridge out from under me is going to stop the mighty Conrad."

"It's actually kind of sad that it was brigands." Melissa said, trying to be cutting with her words as she attempted to get his pride under control before his head swelled any bigger.

"They should be so lucky that I was in a merciful mood and allowed them the victory." Conrad proclaimed, playing off the loss as if he was simply be charitable. "Now that I have found you, there is no need to deal with those brigands."

"I thought you promised that you'd give up on my hand in marriage after losing to Louie, Conrad." Melissa really didn't want to deal with his ignorance. She was trying to maintain her dignity while dealing with his persistence, but it was stretching it very thin.

"As if I could ever lose to that mage wanna-be." Conrad said with a slight sniff. "I came in search of you because I was concerned for you. Doesn't that mean anything to you?"

"Not really." Melissa crossed her arms in front of herself and turned her head from Conrad. "You tried giving up being a mage for a knight in shining armor, you tried being a champion and failed often just to impress me, you even tried fighting for my love and still lost. When are you going to get the message that Mylee doesn't want us together?"

"If it meant fighting the will of the Gods for the one person I love, then so be it!" Conrad was down on one knee in front of Melissa. He reached up and quickly managed to take hold of one of her hands as he gazed into her eyes with his deep blue ones. "If it meant sacrificing myself for our love, I would do anything for you."

A shadow stretched over Conrad's back without him noticing and with a quick motion, a dark blue greaved hand snatched a handful of Conrad's hair, tugging his head back. A short dagger sprung into existence against Conrad's neck as his face went from one of pure love to pure fear. Homun's face gazed coldly down into Conrad's as he pressed the edge of the dagger into his neck slowly.

Conrad did the only thing he could in this situation, he screamed like a little girl.

"Homun!" Melissa shouted, afraid to move against him. He may use the dagger on Conrad and then turn it on her if she tried to stop him.

"You said you'd fight the will of the Gods for your love, correct?" Homun spoke coldly down at Conrad who was still shrieking like a scared little girl, his gauntlets gripping the wrist of Homun's wrist that had gripped his hair. "How would you like to meet the Gods personally?"

Before he could get an answer, Conrad fainted dead away on the spot. Homun continued to look coldly down into his passed out face, unsure whether he should finish the person off or drop him. With a sound in the back of his throat, he dropped Conrad to the floor, glaring disgusted down at the pathetic person before him. "Humans are all the same…" he muttered before heading outside the inn.

Louie had started to come down the stairs, looking curiously over at Melissa's back and then to the doorway of the inn before turning right around and heading back upstairs to his room. Whatever had made her call out to Homun in the first place must have run for its life out the door.

* * *

Genie was in the middle of chopping firewood for the inn they were staying at when Melissa had yelled out the mercenary's name. She dropped the axe and grabbed for her sword, unsheathing it and tossing the scabbard to the side as she charged around the building. Before she could come to her friend's aid, the man appeared from the inn doorway and stared at her coolly.

"What?" Homun spat at her, daring her to say anything that would incite a fight at him.

Genie held her sword before her for a bit longer before she lowered it to her side and stood straighter before the man. "What happened in there?" Genie wasn't sure if she was going to believe the man, no matter what he said. Still, any information could be true until it was proven false.

"A silver armored idiot was attacking our healer." Homun turned to face Genie, squaring off to her. "I stopped him."

Genie glanced with her eyes only to the doorway once more. She thought she had heard a child scream out in abject fear and had assumed it was Homun terrorizing a kid, but then again, Conrad was definitely a girly type of person. Something sped at her from just out of her periphery and with a practiced flick of her wrists, she batted a rock that had been tossed razor quick at her by Homun.

Homun dusted his hands off unconcerned as Genie once again assumed a fighting stance in front of him. "You're sword skills are much better than the average person I've seen so far." Although his voice was complimenting her, his tone never hinted that it was supposed to be respectful. "Now if only you could cast spells. You'd make a decent Rune Soldier."

"I don't need magic skills to defeat you." Genie sneered at Homun as she took one cautious step toward him.

Homun merely looked at her as if he didn't believe what he had just heard. Raising his hand before him, he snapped his fingers toward Genie. The snap must have been a trigger for some spell as the sword in her hands was suddenly wrenched from her grip and slammed into the ground hard enough to create a cloud of dust. Her arms felt like they had nearly been ripped from their sockets, but Genie immediately reached for the hilt and tried unsuccessfully to raise her sword to defend herself with.

"That's why you need magick." Homun made a shooing motion toward Genie, releasing the gravity spell he had caused to manifest in the sword. "If you had noticed the small bit of energy I put into the rock, you'd have avoided it instead of batting it away. You transferred the magick from the rock into your sword, like I had intended you to."

Turning on his heel, Homun strode away from the inn and back toward the bridge. He never looked back and he didn't say where he was off to, though it was a bit obvious since the bridge was still out in that direction. She held the hilt in her hands loosely as she glared spite into the back of the walking Homun.

* * *

Dinner was a quiet affair. Homun had never returned from the bridge and Conrad had needed carrying back up into the room the innkeeper had provided for him. Louis adamantly refused to leave his room, claiming he wasn't hungry and that he would eat later if necessary.

Sitting around the table, the four women ate quietly. All but Celecia ate stew that Merrill had helped cook up in the kitchen, Celecia dining on various vegetables and fruit that the inn had left and from she had personally gathered.

The mood around the table was a somber affair, more doom and gloom than that of peaceful quiet. The silence was so heavy that even the innkeeper feared to come out from behind the bar for fear of breaking the reverie he thought the travelers were enjoying.

"Thank you for the meal, Merrill." Melissa said as she dabbed at her lips with a napkin that had been provided by the inn. She felt absolutely miserable, and she could tell her friends were of the same mind.

"Eh, it's not the greatest stuff in the world, but what can you expect from a run down old shack of an inn like this?" She took another spoonful in her mouth as she spoke, talking around her food as she ate.

"Still, it's better than sleeping outside under the trees again." Genie could still feel the last camp they had been at just yesterday in her muscles. She needed a hot bath to relax.

"I'm so sorry that everyone is caught up in this." Celecia bowed her head to them all from where she sat. It looked like she was trying to take the blame for having Homun in their party.

"It's hardly your fault for our poor company, Celecia." Melissa smiled a half serious smile, the look on her face screaming 'forced'. "You were ordered to be with him as well, so we can now at least know what you had to go through for so long by yourself."

"I'd have stabbed him in his sleep." Merrill said with a grin on her face that spoke volumes about what she was thinking about.

"I think crushing him with a big rock would be a lot more pleasing." Genie pushed her bowl back and took a long pull from the tankard that had been provided with the meal.

"Not that it's against my will cause I'd like to do the same thing, can we at least talk about something else?" The high lilt in her voice saying how absolutely pleasing it would be if Homun reached some untimely demise evident in her tone.

Somewhere out in the darkness, Homun shivered.

"I'm really worried about Louie." Celecia brought everyone's eyes to her with the obvious worry of the group, Melissa's head tilting down and her hands clasping together while Merrill looked to the roof above them and the second floor above where Louie should be at while Genie closed her eyes and silently contemplated.

"Y'know, he's been up there for a really long time now." Merrill's voice dipped precariously close to sounding concerned for Louie.

"It's not often that you get beaten as badly as what he did, and in the field you're supposedly good at." Genie thought about it for a bit longer, keeping her eyes closed as she pondered how cruel fate truly was.

"Mylee has a plan for him." Melissa had her eyes closed as she silently prayed to Mylee while speaking her onviction. "We must trust in Him that He can give Louie back his confidence."

"More importantly, I wonder if Homun is even concerned about the fight at all." All eyes turned to her as Genie looked up and into the tankard before her, as if trying to divine the future from her drink. "It's one thing to get beaten, but to be beaten as badly as Louie was and to have the person act as if it hardly mattered like Homun seems to act all the time, it may be worse for Louie in the long run."

As if speaking this concern was a cue for him, Louie came trudging downstairs looking miserable. His hair was unkempt and smug marks were on his face as if he had been burnt by something close by. His cloak was torn in several parts near the fringe and his armor had some scratches and nicks in the chest plated area. He ordered a bowl of stew for himself and declined the invite from his friends to join him, walking back to the stairs and disappearing back toward his room once again.

"Ok, I don't know about any of you, but that was definitely not the Louie I know." Merrill leaned toward the assembled party conspiratorially. "What the hell could he possibly be doing up in his room that would make it look like he's been in a fight?"

"He definitely looks out of it." Melissa said as she bit at her thumb, worrying anew about her champion.

"He's always out of it, but this looked more like exhaustion than anything else." Genie said as she took another drink from her tankard, and then signaled to the innkeeper for a refill.

"The greenhorn has finally hit the wall." Merrill leaned back in her chair, the sarcasm dripping from her lips.

"It could be magick." Celecia said as she closed her eyes and listened to nature.

"You think he's practicing up in his room?" Melissa jumped on the offered excuse to Louie's condition as if she needed to hear this more than anything else.

"It's faint, but I can definitely feel magick being used above us." Celecia's ears twitched just a minute bit at the tips as she held completely still.

"Wow, I'm impressed." Genie said as she crossed her arms in front of herself.

"Yeah, who would've ever thought the day would come where Louie would actually try to prepare himself for something?" Merrill took a drink from her own tankard, nearly draining the thing in one go.

* * *

Celecia walked out in the darkness of the nearby fields, the light from the inn glowing faintly to her as she stood on a small hill underneath the stars. It had been so long since she had walked out amongst nature, she needed to be alone.

She thought of Louie who was now as alone as she felt and worried for him just a bit. There was a time when they had gone in search of the reason when Ila's uncle had found an ancient artifact that had thrown to weather into chaos and she had traveled with Louie and his friends under false pretenses. She wondered if her leading Louie on was really as false as she had let it seem to be.

She sat and looked up at the sky, trying to shake off the feel of Homun and the fact that she had been around him for nearly three months. She hadn't been let out of the house for all that period of time and for an elf, it was near torture. She understood not being seen by other humans, though being around Homun may have been worse than anything.

Sighing softly to herself, she laid back and closed her eyes, letting nature comfort her in its embrace. She had maybe laid down for a few moments when she realized that she was hearing a song she had heard before, one that made her skin crawl. She sat up and listened to it as she turned her head, gauging from where the song was coming from.

Sensing it was coming up the road toward the inn, Celecia stood up and moved toward it as a fast pace, approaching the singer she knew would be walking there. Homun walked the roadway ahead, slowly taking his time in going back to the inn, his eyes looked misty as if he was half dreaming. He softly sang, though on the flat area around the inn, his voice carried in an eerie quality.

She watched him from a distance, making sure to stay as close to the ground and away from him as she could while keeping his face in view. Homun had let her know in a brief moment of weakness that when he sang this song, he was living in the past again. He only briefly mentioned that he had been taught the song from someone that had been something to him, though he went mute afterwards, refusing to speak or to even acknowledge that he had said anything.

As he came in sight of the inn, he stopped in his tracks and let the song slowly run itself out. He stood limply outside of the light from the inn, his face looking conflicted between it's uncaring mask and something that the song invoked in him. He heaved his shoulders as he sighed and muttered gently under his breath before refitting the uncaring mask tightly to his face and heading into the inn.

Celecia stood up from where she had been hidden from him, unsure of whether she had heard his last words before his departure. She was sure she had seen emotion on him for the first time since meeting him, though it was as if his heart had been ripped out of him when he called the name. Maybe Homun has his reasons for being as rough on everyone as he had been up to this point, maybe his history had been worse than he could possibly explain and he went on in silence.

Gazing into the lit doorway after the disappeared mercenary, she thought for just a moment on him as she recalled the sighed name…


	11. Chapter 10

**Ladies and Gentlemen, I have returned and am only passing through, with the X-Mas Holidays nearing, I am going into hiding before that jolly fat man in his red sleigh and reindeer come here again and demand their food and drink. It's Extortion I tell ya!**

**Anyways, with that rant out of the way, I come to you now to tell you that I am going to progress the story soon to allow for some brawling, a few monster encounters, even the random created monsters (which in the animated videos were called Homunculus, go figure) I may put in some female companionship, though they weren't all that lovey dovey on Louie.**

**Disclaimer: I don't have the right to use these cahracters in this story setting as Rune Soldier is not owned by me. Homun is my personal Character.**

* * *

When the morning came, the first to come down to the dining hall was Louie of all people. This wouldn't have been out of the ordinary if he looked like he had just woken up, however he sat quietly at one of the tables waiting for the rest of his friends to wake up and looked to be alert and prepared for today. His face was set in a look of concentration, as if he was fully focused on something for a change, which Louie never had on his face unless it was women or booze he was considering.

Genie came down next of the women, followed closely by Celecia on her heels. Celecia smiled and waved at Louie, but Louie didn't even acknowledge her, as if he wasn't even looking at her though his eyes were clearly on the stairs to the upper level. Genie came and sat by the mage, crossing her arms and waiting for the old innkeeper to appear and bring them breakfast that was wafting to them from the kitchen.

Celecia took up a seat across from her and on Louie's right, glancing at Louie to see if he was truly awake or somehow sleeping with his eyes open. Merrill, the thief of the group came down stairs next, stretching an arm over her head with a sleepy look in her eyes. She looked around the room and noticed the gathering of friends already assembled then called up behind her to Melissa at the top of the stairs that Louie was already downstairs.

Melissa came down and looked shocked at Louie from the stairs, as if unbelieving that he was already up and waiting for her for a change instead of the other way around. Coming and sitting down at the table, Louie continued to look up past everyone at the table and at the stairs they had descended from.

"How long has he been like this?" Merrill said as she stared confused at him.

"Ever since we got here." Genie said as she glanced around at her friends. Her scowl slightly deepened when she locked her eyes on Louie.

"Is he always like this?" Celecia said as she looked on worriedly at Louie.

"Actually, he's almost impossible to get out of bed some days." Merrill taunted Louie who didn't even flinch or break his gaze of the stairs.

"I've gotten better." Louie spoke almost to himself, but loud enough to show that he was listening, but not really paying attention to the conversation.

"Well, it does live." Merrill grinned snidely at Louie but let it drop when she noticed his lack of reaction to her shot.

Melissa looked at Louie concerned. "Have you had anything eat yet?" Louie grunted something near an affirmative, and Melissa's brow furrowed even more.

He remained that way as they planned their next move when Louie seemed to sit straighter in his seat, his face settling into a grimace. Genie seemed to pick up on his body motion before anyone else did and glanced in the direction that he had maintained his vigil at. Homun had come into view from being upstairs and now she understood that he had been waiting for the mercenary to make his appearance, though she doubted that Louie had anything pleasant to say to the man.

Homun sat down nearby, the table where everyone was assembled at had room for one more, but he made it obvious that though he had to be a part of their group, he was not a part of their circle. The old innkeeper was starting to bring food out to everyone, placing bowls of porridge in front of everyone and some bread. Water or cider was offered to all and only Homun turned down both food and drink.

Merrill turned in her seat, gnawing on the hunk of bread that she had been given with the porridge to look at Homun idly. She turned back to her friends and more importantly her breakfast as she asked something that had been bugging her. "Have you ever noticed that Homun doesn't seem to eat anything?"

Everyone hesitated in their varied actions, trying to think of when if at all they had ever seen Homun eat anything, or outright ignoring the idea.

"I very much doubt that he doesn't eat." Melissa said as she sipped at a spoonful of porridge. "I mean, everything has to eat sooner or later."

"Given the fact that we have been around him for two days now, I've never seen him eat or drink anything at any given time." Genie said as she pulled a piece of bread off of the hunk she had been given and scooped some porridge with it before putting the piece into her mouth.

Louie barely touched the porridge in front of him, more stirring his spoon idly in it instead of eating it.

Homun stood up abruptly from his seat, making everyone look up at him with startled eyes. "It's time to go." He brusquely spoke before turning and walking out of the inn. Hearing a confirmation that the guests would be leaving today, the innkeeper came toward those assembled around the table with his hands clasped before him, a smile of money to come written on his face.

Louie stood as well as Merrill paid the money for room and board, minus her and Genie's contributions to the work around the inn and headed outside with Homun which earned another round of amazed staring at one another. Finishing up their meager meals, the ladies gathered their personal belonging, cinched their weapons to them and proceeded outside.

Louie stood off from Homun, a glare from Louie aimed at the mercenary, while the mercenary seemed not to noticed or even care for the other's presence. He didn't even acknowledge that everyone was outside of the inn as he proceeded to head in the direction of the bridge

"Hey, Homun," Merrill shouted after the mercenary, "Did you forget that there's a bridge out up ahead?"

Homun stopped where he was and looked over his shoulder at his party. "The people working on the bridge haven't come back yet." He turned his head back toward the path and walked along it without a second thought or word to the contrary.

"Strange that Homun would start taking an interest in people other than those he's hunting." Celecia spoke softly, though it carried to her friends, her looked changing to a concerned one.

"Strange that Homun would speak his mind about his intent." Merrill snidely said as she placed her hands on her hips. "He doesn't exactly let us on to what amounts to thinking in his head."

"He is right, though." Genie said as she started off after Homun. "With the food and supplies they took with them, they should have come back this morning for something to eat and to start making arrangements for more wood. Especially if the bridge was just destroyed recently."

"I hope that all we find are some lazy workers." Melissa said as she made as ilent prayer to Mylee for luck.

* * *

Arriving near the cliff that led down into the ravine below, scorch marks and bloodstains matted the ground in spots, while the lumber that had been meant for repairing the bridge had obviously been destroyed. No signs of footprinted could be seen in the ground, but the violence spoke wonders to everyone. Homun seemed to be the only person unconcerned as he walked over to an earthen bridge that had miraculously sprung out of the cliff edge and spanned the ravine.

"It's horrible." Celecia said as she covered her mouth and nose with her hand. Her nose could still pick up the coppery scent of blood, but the burnt smell of something else was making her sick.

"It's life." Homun said as he looked down into the ravine once again before stepping out onto the bridge.

"What the hell did you do to all these people?!" Merrill had taken a wide stance as she glared death at Homun's back.

Homun turned around and looked back at the people he was traveling with. "What makes you think I did anything to them?" He looked as if he couldn't care less, or even concerned about the fact that there was blood and burnt wood all over the side of the ravine he was leaving behind.

"I don't know. Maybe it's because we don't trust you?" Genie reached for the hilt of her weapon at her hip, though she had already guessed that he wouldn't fight them.

"I don't care if you trust me or not." Homun turned around and started walking across the other side of the bridge. "I have a duty to perform. That and that alone compels me."

He walked away from them, as they debated the morality of that statement. They could not stand to be with him, and yet, duty to their King commanded them to work alongside of him. It was worse than galling, it was a slow death of the heart.

Louie waited only till Homun had finished crossing the crude earthen bridge that looked only like a broad piece of earth that stretched from one side to the other with no rails. He didn't hesitate to walk out onto the bridge, more importantly, he didn't say anything about the obvious massacre or tried to reason with the man. He merely followed in his footsteps, as it were.

"Louie has been…odd…lately." Celecia spoke the only thing that came to mind, and it strangely fit.

"He hasn't been right since Homun beat him at camp." Melissa looked worriedly after their male friend, before forcing a resolute face on. "Still, I trust Louie. I know that's he's not the great champion I wish he was, but I do know that he wouldn't change that much after something so trivial."

Genie smiled and let out a sort of acknowledgement or agreement before walking out after their mage friend. She knew that he was in a mental fight. Maybe tonight she would coax him to talk to her about it.

Merrill had the same smile on her face, a grim one, but a smile none the less. She knew that Louie was thickheaded, and sort of a pervert, but all men were. Louie could get away with it a bit more than other men could because he was one of them, in a sense. He'd figure something out on his own, too stubborn to listen to her sage advice when she would be willing to offer it.

Only Melissa and Celecia could still be slightly worried about Louie. Celecia more in tune with feelings and emotions could feel the slow spinning disgust in Louie and knew that something in him was at war with the other parts of him. Melissa was concerned about his silence. She had seen him act a little out of control on adventures, and had even jumped at the chance of going on this one most of all, yet since being beaten by Homun there had not been one happy thing from Louie. Hopefully, camp tonight would allow them a brief talk.

* * *

Homun had put them on a grueling pace that day, making more miles on that day than on their last traveled one. Everyone muttered at his insane step, sometimes moving to a jog and sometimes slowing back down into a somewhat decent walk to move back up into a jog again. Feet hurt all around the encampment as Homun once again spun the Sylph's hair around the camp while they sat around the fireplace and made up the evening meals.

For a change, Louie had his staff planted in the ground in front of him and had his hands to either side of the larger end of the wand, chanting softly in the tongue of magick as a purple glow emanated from it. Everyone occasionally glanced over at him from time to time as he continued to chant, sweat starting to form on his brow as he focused.

Homun walked into the area where they were camping out and made one quick scan over the group, holding his eyes on Louie longer than the others before sitting down and taking out his weapons, one at a time. Louie held the magick only for a few moments longer before letting the last words chant over his lips before the glow faded from the staff and he sighed slowly.

"That's a first." Merrill spoke to him first as she offered him a bowl with some stew fit enough for the elf. "I've never actually seen you cast a spell that didn't blow up in your face, or paralyzed me."

Louie winced at the accusation that he would repeat the same mistake, and then weakly grinned. "I wasn't actually casting a spell." He said as he took a sip from the bowl, forgoing the spoon in it. "I was just meditating somewhat."

"Meditation is a good way to regain some of your lost stamina and lose some fatigue that you may have." Melissa spoke lightly to everyone, the sound educating mixed with a slightly approving note. "I'm glad to see that you're at least feeling slightly better to use your magick like that."

"I told you it's not a spell." Louie sighed as he tried to not let irritation in him. "Truth be told, I'd most likely blow it if I cast a spell." Louie's shoulders drooped as he sipped from the bowl again, a sad look coming from Melissa with a half hearted 'Oh' came from her.

"Were you studying back at the inn?" Celecia stepped into the uneasy silence as she tried to bring everyone's spirits up.

Louie chuckled half heartedly, his shoulders dropping even further, if that was possible. "I was actually meditating a lot up there, I've had a lot to think about."

"Thinking and Louie." Merrill shivered at the mental image. "That's it, we're doomed."

A scathing look came from Melissa at the thief, who was shrugging as if that was an excuse for her comment.

"If it's not so much trouble, what were you thinking about?" Genie looked up at him, peering around some of her hair that seemed to intensify her gaze when she was looking at you with her arms crossed in front of her.

For once, Louie sat up straighter and smiled to everyone gathered around. "I was actually thinking about quitting." The light way he spoke it almost made it sound comical if his face wasn't deadly serious.

"Quitting?!?" Melissa looked like she wanted to faint.

"You mean the quest, right?" Celecia jumped in on Melissa's heels, hoping to cut off the questions that were on all of their faces, though anger seemed to be on Genie's

"I mean being a mage." Louie took a deep sip from his bowl and seemed to find the spoon that had been there all along.

"Genie." Merrill called in an even tone to her warrior friend.

"Yes, Merrill?" Genie spoke back to her.

"If he quits being a mage, he's no longer a part of our group, right?" Merrill continued and waited for her friends reply.

"That's about the size of it." Genie was keeping control of herself, her voice smooth and balanced.

"So it's not infighting if I stomp a hole in his head then, right?" Merrill stood up from where she sat, glaring anger down on Louie's oblivious head.

"I would think not." Genie said as she continued to sit where she was at. "I'd think, though, that you wouldn't want to get your foot dirty from that kind of scum."

"You can't quit!" Melissa bolted to her feet with a terror filled face. "Mylee said that you would be my champion! How can you champion anything if you quit?!?" Her voice was slipping further and further into hysterics.

Louie looked up at her calmly as he continued to eat. "Maybe Mylee was wrong?"

If she was in hysterics before, then they needed to redefine hysterics. The thought of her God telling her a lie was tantamount to thinking Conrad was a real Knight in Shining Armor. Collapsing into a kneel, her hands reflexively clasped themselves before her and spirals replaced her normal blue eyes changing into spirals.

"I never wanted to be a champion of anything." Louie thought to himself, before he realized someone thing laughing darkly to himself.

Homun was chuckling to himself darkly as he looked at all of them turning their heads to him. He shook his head as the mirth rippled through his normally cold demeanor. Shaking his head, he turned his gaze to glare with a sneer at Louie. "And here I thought you were Rune Soldier material."

Louie tilted his head as if not understanding at Homun. Homun shook his head once again and looked at Genie. "Looks like you're the one we'll have to rest our hopes on now." He said as he settled his back against a rock and closed his eyes, crossing his arms over himself to keep warm.

* * *

Louie had separated himself from the rest of the group, moving his bedroll away from all of them in a hope to separate himself. He felt worse than dirt for telling them the truth, but he had this problem before, only Ila had helped talk him out of dropping his studies. He wasn't afraid of disappointing his step father Carwess anymore, only his friends and it appeared he'd done that really well tonight.

Sighing darkly to himself, the campfire long gone out and his watch unnecessary since they had their last campsite tested. He could only shake his head at himself and readjusted his cloak over himself. He wasn't sure how he was going to continue traveling with them all, seeing as how he had accepted their task from the King, one that they had later said they wanted nothing to do with.

"Louie?" Celecia's voice spoke above him. He shifted a little once again but said nothing as she laid down against his back and pressed her hands into his shoulders.

"I don't know what you're going through, and I wish there was something there was I could do for you." Celecia continued to talk to him, voicing her own concern to him as she pressed tighter to his body. "You shouldn't give up simply because someone is so hard on you. Homun is…"

Her voice died off as she tried a different line. Bringing Homun up was something she didn't want to talk about. "I know you're a good person, Louie. You try so hard to be the best you can be, but you've forgotten what kind of best you can be. You may not be a good spell caster or even a sword user…"

Louie shifted again at that, trying to shift away from her, but not let on that he was actually awake and listening to her.

"You are the best Louie you can be." Celecia gripped hold of his shoulder and pressed her forehead into his back. "You shouldn't try to be anything else other than yourself. You can't fail being that, as long as you remember that you are already the best you can be. You can only improve on yourself."

Celecia didn't say anything else after that. She simply pressed close to Louie as she relaxed some and her breathing slowed down to the sounds of peaceful sleep. Louie didn't know what to think of Celecia's words, though he felt that she was trying to console him. She was, in a way, a lot like Ila at that moment. Reaching down to spread his cloak over Celecia, he brushed his fingers briefly over her hand.

He pulled reflexively away from her touch for a moment before he took her hand in his and pulled it up to his side, squeezing it softly.

* * *

Homun watched them, more specifically Louie. There was something about the mage that rubbed him wrong, something about his innocent attitude that got under his skin, though that was a hard thing to do. _She_ had always said that not even blood could manage to get under his skin, but that had been so long ago…

He remembered her, he could never forget her…

They had been separated during the wars between the Rune Soldiers and the countries who tried to compete for supremacy of Magick. Fools, one and all. She had told him near the end of the wars when he had been placed into suspended animation that she would stay for as long as she could, to bring order back into the chaos that had occurred in their country, now called Ohfun.

She wouldn't have been separated from him, they had been…together…

He shook his head at that thought. It was forbidden of them to be that way, their Masters had told them it was so. Considering that their Masters had been the ones to cause the war, he didn't give two rats humping about what they said. She hated that kind of vulgarity out of his mouth, and had tried in vain to get him to clean his mouth up. He had told her he was made that way, she had told him he made himself that way.

Her hair flashed through his head, that deep silver that looked nearly gray but shown with something unearthly in it, that hair he loved the most. Her eyes could kill him with a look, a death he loved to take anytime she would look to him, and her voice as it called down the thunder on her foes and smote anyone who stood before her. He called her a living weapon, which wasn't far from the truth…

He shook his head. His eyes were blurry, had he been crying again? He didn't even try to sigh or let the loss sink in, he only had his task, the ones his Masters burned into his being. He only had his task, which was all he needed. He would go back to his dreamless sleep after it was done, relegating her back to where she deserved, encased in his dreams, protected from time…

* * *

**Looks like even the Ice Man has someone he pines for. What woman could like him? Guess it hardly matters since she's long gone...**

**Louie may have gotten a pep talk from Celecia, but his friends are not going to let him live this down. Homun burned his pride into nothing, I guess. Maybe I should go easier on him? Meh...**


	12. Chapter 11

**I pumped this one out faster than I thought I would. Guess once I sat down and got to thinking, it demanded to be written. Good thing I'm such a good listen. Too bad I'm a terrible speller.**

**Disclaimer: Rose's are Red, Violet's are Blue. Rune Soldier isn't mine, I don't want to be sued.**

**Merrill: What the hell was that kind of crap? You're a writer, not a poet.**

**G.B.: I thought I should add a little culture to people's lives. Make them see not only the blatant abuse of violence and gratuitous women but have something that uplifted their spirits as well.**

**Merrill: Stick to what works. My hot body brings the business in. (makes a sexy pose)**

**G.B.: Only if people are into women who look like they should be in middle school. You are 18, right?**

**Merrill: You Bastard!!! (stomps a bloody hole in the ground where G.B. used to be)**

* * *

Traveling onward for a week, the party had little to say to one another and even less to the men in their party. Things had been bad with Homun, and now that Louie was worrying about being useless the girls had started treating him as if he was a carrier of the plague. All but Celecia would treat him as if he wasn't there, and she tried to stay close to him to try to make him feel better, though he barely spoke and rarely ate.

Sleep was even coming to him less and less as he obsessed over the fact that he was useless to them, but more importantly, to himself. There had been a brief skirmish a day ago of goblins, the demi-human creatures of mottled green skin and yellow eyes had been a point of stress relief for all but Louie and Homun, who did not contribute to the fighting.

A day outside of the town they had been sent to, the border of Ohfun, the party approached with a carefree step and an occasional smile on their face.

"Oh man," Merrill stretched her arm over her head as she stretched, pulling lightly on her arm as she loosened up, "That's what I really needed the most. This journey has been a real drag."

"I could have done without the goblin blood on my cloak." Genie said, though the smile on her face didn't

"At least we're finally at the end of our travels. I could really use a bath." Melissa smiled lightly as she looked to the two lady compatriots, she glanced over her shoulder briefly at Louie and Celecia who were trailing them, but could only frown in worry at the listless look in Louie's eyes.

"I'll just be glad to get rid of them for awhile." Merrill glared sullenly at the back of Homun, but turned her head and glared disgust at Louie.

"Maybe we'll find someone who will be better than the current mage we have." Genie's voice dipped into acid as she let her disgust be known. She wouldn't even look over her shoulder to acknowledge him. "Maybe out here they will have a woman we can at least relate to."

"It's too bad that Lily was Prince Littner's mage in their party." Merrill said as she thought about their friends back in Ohfun. "She may be young, but she's definitely more useful than ours."

"I'm leaving." Homun had stopped long enough to tell Melissa, Merrill and Genie his plans before he turned back and rushed down the pathway toward the city. It seemed that he reached for his gloves and had pulled out twin daggers.

"I can't say I'm sorry to see him go, but weren't we supposed to be working together?" Merrill said as she reached behind her head with both of her hands.

Before anyone could speak, a hoarse bellow came past them. Wearing white vestments of a paladin with blue sleeves and pant legs, a man with a grayish beard charged past wielding a mighty stone warhammer over his shoulder. Genie seemed to see something ahead of the short bearded person as she reached for her great sword over her shoulder and ran after the diminutive man.

As if Genie's charge was a cue for them to act, Merrill and Melissa ran after their warrior friend. Homun was already among the few monsters that were attacking the gates of the city, the guards above them throwing what rocks they had gathered and the few arrows spoke of bad times on them. The armor looked cobbled together of dented pieces and rusted parts. There were even the few pieces of wooden plank and pot tied into place as a piece of chest armor.

Homun didn't waste time as he cut into the mass of enemies attacking the gate, silent as death he jumped into the backs and drove them into the ground. Growls and howls alerted a few nearby to turn to an attack behind them, a third goblin leapt toward the crouching Homun who was driving the two daggers into the heads of the downed monsters. A stone warhammer took it in the gut and launched it into a few nearby enemies as it spun over Homun's head, knocking his sword to the side with a harsh clang and drawing Homun's eyes for only a moment before he was off and attacking again.

Genie was only a few seconds behind the short man as she launched a sword strike into the few goblins and what looked like attacking barrels with teeth, though the sight of their stumpy legs coming from the bottoms of them made the image of them being a barrel less than normal.

Merrill let fly with a few of her daggers and well placed kicks to those who had gotten to Genie's blind spot and too close to herself, but she could do little to the undead that were wading around in the midst of the goblins and homunculi. Goblins were easy enough for her to take care of, but she was going to use a whole lot of daggers up on one homunculus and the undead weren't going to notice her slashes into their corpses.

Chanting a holy oath, the short bearded man called out in Mylee's name and slammed his hammer down with a cry into the skull of an undead skeleton, shattering its body in a single downward swing. The light that sprung out through the ground from where his hammer struck sent ripples out and caused many of the monsters stumbling into one another while the undead seemed to wail in pain and stop in their tracks for many moments.

Melissa's pole axe that had been modified into a hammer reached out and struck unerringly to hit many of the skeletons, punching holes through their chests with holy power. The skeletons stood only for a second before collapsing in on themselves. She cast holy bolts from her clenched hands, fist under open palm as she called out for Mylee's grace to send to rest the undead.

Homun ignored the average monsters, reaching back under his cloak and pulling out the blade he had received from the elves in the Tartious forest. Slicing with an unerring slash, he thrust and cut lightly into the barrel like creatures. He leapt to avoid the heavy swing of the stone warhammer, leaping over the weapon as it swung into the Homunculi he had passed with a light swing and stab.

The creature had just enough time to screech until the heavy weapon blew it apart with a wet crunch. Those not attacked by the hammer were already writhing on the ground, bubbling into green ooze with weak shrieking coming from them. The weapon spun in his hand once as he came to a standstill, brushing his cloak back with the flat of the blade as he slid it home into it's sheath.

The hammer swung down flat, the top impacting hard into the ground with a practiced spin as the man brought his hands up in front of him. "May Mylee bring pity unto you unfortunate souls." The heavy accented short man said, his leathery face hidden behind his thick brown beard.

"Low level Homunculi." Homun kicked at what was left of the last barrel like creature, splattering green muck into the dirt as it broke apart into gore. "Cannon fodder." Disgust was in his voice as he surveyed what was left of the creatures.

"I guess Dardanel is up to his old tricks." Merrill was gathering up her daggers, wiping them one at a time on the killed monsters as she recovered her needed tools.

Louie had finally arrived with Celecia in tow, the elf girl with a grim look on her slender face while Louie seemed barely to acknowledge the corpses that were before the barred gate. As they stood and observed the destruction around them, a voice called down to them from the portcullis.

"Master Rydon, you have returned at last!" a middle aged man waved from above as he called down behind the gates for the men to unbar and let in the people outside.

"Aye, I have." The diminutive old man called up as he craned his short neck. "The undead scourge is getting worse and worse around here. It took me longer than I imagined."

"Druk." Homun spoke, and the short old man turned abruptly to Rydon. "Hak'mur duergar gulth ranna grath. Krix tu duergar Mylee?" Homun tilted his head bacn and spat at the sky, not watching the spit lift and sail a bit away to fall into the earth.

The short old man lifted his warhammer and propped it over his shoulder. "Even we dwarves follow Mylee, though most of us follow the One God." He turned toward the gate as it swung open. "We above all else do not hate the dead. It is upon us to return them to rest in the Mother."

Rydon walked into the city, followed by Homun. They said nothing else to each other, though Rydon smiled politely to the villagers and gave them a few blessings and praises. Celecia walked after Homun, her hood laid back as it seemed to the villagers that elves were common on the outskirts on man's country. Genie, Merrill, and Melissa stood together, quite baffled at what they were seeing.

"Did anyone understand what was just said?" Merrill asked as she continued to watch the retreating form of Homun and Rydon.

"I guess they know each other." Melissa said with a little surprise.

"I don't think that's it." Genie was watching how Rydon was walking with some space held carefully between them and his warhammer over the opposite shoulder of the one that Homun was walking next to. "He's ready to strike him at any moment."

Louie walked up next to Melissa and past her, heading into the city. The girls glared at his back, though Melissa's was one of sadness as she watched her broken 'champion' heading into town. She didn't know what else she could do with him, and if he had given up on being an adventurer, what else was there that she could do for him?

"Melissa!" Genie and Merrill yelled in her ear, making her turn toward her friends. She turned toward them only to feel something reach around her throat from behind in a deathly grip, wrenching her down by her hair as Genie tried to pull her from whatever had her from behind. She looked over her shoulder, seeing that one of the undead had not died as she had previously thought it had and it had managed to crawl close enough to grab hold of her and try to bring her down toward its hungry mouth.

Genie kept both hands on Melissa, trying to keep the body of the undead thing off of their friend as Merrill ran into town after the dwarven priest. Genie had kept her weapon in its sheath, knowing that her steel wasn't going to do anything to the creature, so she attempted to keep its mouth from biting into her flesh and claws from gouging out her throat. As it reared back with one hard push from the scared priest, a fist caught its face with a mighty punch, breaking the undead off Melissa with a surprised growl.

Louie stood in front of the fallen Melissa and Genie, surprised that Louie had come to their rescue. The undead rolled from its back and began to crawl back toward them and him. Taking his wand out from behind his belt, he held it up in front of himself and began chanting, calling to the magick around him to his aid as his staff glowed with a dull ruddy light. He pointed his staff at the undead horror that was nearly at his feet and from the tip of his wand came the same fireball that had lit the bonfire from their first camp.

With an instant effect, the fireball bathed itself into the skeleton's clothing and ligaments, pieces of still rotting flesh and parchment skin catching fire in an instant as Louie stepped back. The skeleton writhed for but a moment under the power of the fireball spell before it shuddered and collapsed into dust. Louie turned around and looked at Genie and Melissa who were still looking at him in surprise, though Genie had climbed back up to her feet and was appraising Louie with her eyes with a smile on her face for a change.

"Are you alright?" Louie asked, making Melissa blink briefly and dumbly, thought completely gone from her head.

"I think she's in shock, but we seem to be okay." Genie answered for her as she helped Melissa to her feet while she continued to stare at Louie in disbelief.

Replacing his wand to the back of his belt, he turned back around and walked into town, passing by Genie and Melissa. He didn't give them a second glance and it seemed to surprise Melissa into action as she turned around to look at his back.

"Where are you going, Louie?" Melissa asked, a bit upset He just saved her from near pain and eternal suffering and he walked away as if it was nothing.

"To the inn." Louie called over his shoulder. He sounded as if he was a whipped dog that was crawling off to die in some corner. "Good luck finding a replacement."

She reached out for his retreating shoulder, and even attempted to call after him, though her voice died on her lips as he passed Rydon and Merrill coming back to the now useless aid of Genie and Melissa. Merrill gave him a dirty look as he passed her, but turned around and looked at his hunched shoulders as she saw the burning corpse and wondered what she had missed.

* * *

"It's good that no one was hurt." Rydon spoke as he handed a chalice to Melissa, walking around the comfortable area of his room as he returned the platter to his kitchen. He returned back to all save Louie, who passed on the invite of the priest. "This may be a small church of Mylee, but I try to keep it alive with the few students that come to pray and learn the teachings." 

"Thank you for this drink." Melissa said a bit glumly, though she tried hard to smile and be polite to him. She didn't want to be here right now, but she had a duty to perform before she could deal with personal issues.

"I take from your friend Homun that you are here looking for someone." Rydon said the name a bit brusquely, though he played the civil host as best as he could.

"We're looking for a man named Dardanel." Homun spoke before anyone else could. He didn't touch the drink in his chalice, only sloshed it in circles as he stood impatiently against the wall next to the door.

"Dardanel, you say?" Rydon sipped from his chalice as he thought for a moment. "I don't suppose you mean Lord Dardanel from the outer fringes of the country?"

"We were asked by the King of Ohfun to come out here and see if there was trouble brewing up and if Dardanel was involved." Melissa spoke for her group, looking Rydon in the eyes as she tried to impart to him how bad Dardanel was and how important their mission was.

"I do remember a Lord Dardanel going to Ohfun not too long ago, but I haven't heard anything since then." Rydon said as he placed his chalice on the table next to him. He ran his hands over his beard in thought as he tried to recall if anyone had spoken of it.

"There was an incident involving an attempted coup in which Dardanel was at the center of." Genie spoke up, the tactician of the group. "Although he failed, someone heard rumor that he had returned somewhere near the northern borders where the supposed army of the attempted coup resided."

"As if it wasn't enough trouble the first time dealing with Mr. I'm-gonna-take-over-the-kingdom in the first place." Merrill said as she spoke her thoughts bluntly to the room.

"All I want to know is if you have seen anything of Dardanel." Homun spoke darkly, bending the cup in his hand and sloshing the drink it held over his fingers as he continued to squeeze it into a mess.

Rydon looked on at Homun with a dirty look in his eyes. "No, I have not seen Dardanel, nor can I remember if Dardanel has been seen at all." Homun put the ruined cup down on the floor where he stood, then turned to the door and walked out of it. He had heard all that he needed to hear and he was leaving.

"I'm sorry about him." Celecia said as she bowed apologetically to Rydon. "I've never seen him act like that before."

"Does he act any different?" Merrill asked sarcastically as she picked up the ruined cup and sighed wistfully, imagining the money it must have cost to get such a cup.

"I do not normally deal with mercenaries." Rydon sighed darkly as he closed his eyes and shook his head back and forth. "He is the second one who has acted so rudely in my presence, and I pray to Mylee daily that she was the only one like him."

"She?" Melissa asked, Celecia's ears pricking up and her face turning toward the dwarf with an intent look on her face.

"Yes." Rydon said as he settled heavily into his chair. "There is a woman at the tavern from time to time, a mercenary. Dressed slightly like that man, though far colder than him." Sighing heavily, he spoke absentmindedly "Such a bloody business for a woman to do, and worse are the rumors…"

"Could you tell us who she is?" Melissa asked, bringing Rydon skeptical gaze to her. "In case we meet her, we may want to stay out of her way. Our friend would most certainly try to fight with her…"

"That would be a true pity." Rydon said as he nodded his head. "Any fight between those two would end up in killing stray people if in the city itself, though a town is more the size of this place compared to Ohfun." Rydon could well imagine that the skill of the man could be as good as the females if the rumors were even half true, and didn't want them to kill anyone in their fighting. "Her name is…"

* * *

Louie managed to make it into the tavern before he finally had no energy left to walk. Taking a seat in a corner of the room, he stared into the tabletop morosely, wanting nothing to do with the world in general and the company he had kept till now. 

The waitress had come over and asked him if he had wanted to drink some time ago, but getting no answer from him, she left to continue her duties somewhere else. He knew he had always been a poor excuse for being a mage, managing to screw things up for his friends and Homun's jokingly easy defense of Louie's magick had broken him of any pride he had. He was a failure, first and foremost. That he was a dark spot on his adopted father was more shaming than being failure.

A shadow stretched over him, but he didn't raise his face. Only when the table he had been staring at leapt up and caught him in the face did his head come up only to hit the wall behind him with force. Louie gripped his nose and the back of his head in both of his hands, one occupying the front while the other took the back as he stared at whoever had suck punched him.

A woman stood in front of him, if woman she could honestly be called. In the light, her hair looked silver on the edges, though the thicker areas were a dull gray like silver, but her eyes were something else. Violet eyes, something Louie had never seen before, almost bordering purple but no doubt they were violet. Her face wasn't heart shaped in the least though to say it was beautiful would have been the truth. Her lips were drawn into a scar on her face, the challenging gaze she threw down at Louie would sat in pain in his chair as she reached for something at her waist.

He moved thankfully from the training with Genie as his body felt the weapon going for his neck, the sound of a blade scratching into the corner where had been sitting momentarily made him leap to the side again as his chair was cleaved in two. He rolled to his feet and pulled out his sword, stepping away from her once again as she spun and clipped his nose with a backhand that would have left him seeing stars.

She was faster than him, better than him, Louie knew as she followed the backhand through with a thrust that had been hidden behind her arm as she spun at him. He ducked and rolled away from her once again, kneeling with his sword in front of himself as he stared at her in shock. Her armor moved as if it was cloth, though looked harder than metal. Dark green to almost seem deeply covered in shadows, nothing on her gleamed except the sword she held in her hand, a rapier that looked not only sharp, but very light

"For someone new to the city, you managed to survive from three sure deaths." The woman's voice was light as honey and could tame the very beasts from the woods if she wasn't staring him down into his grave. She crouched slightly, placing her left hand to the tip of her rapier as she held it in balance on her thumb. "You won't escape death a fourth time…"

The weapon was at Louie's throat before he realized she moved and had only stopped when a midnight blue greaved hand had taken hold of the girl's wrist. She turned to the man, throwing a punch that stopped well before him.

"Hello, Lyssa." Homun stared predatorily down at her, her face deeply in shock. "It's been awhile…"

* * *

**Genie: What happened to the author?**

**Merrill: He made the mistake of asking me about my age...(grins happily, counting the gold coins the author had stashed in his clothing)**

**Melissa: He should know better that no one in Rune Soldier save the students at the Mylee shrine are below 18.**

**Merrill: He also made the comment that I couldn't draw men in with my sexy body. Can't he see beauty when it's tearing him a new butt?**

**Genie: ...**

**Melissa: ...**


	13. Chapter 12

**I think these shorter chapters are coming along better than what I had anticipated. Maybe I'll write a sequel to my other story with shorter chapters like this one, though that might make like 50 or 60 chapters that way...**

**There is a song in here that was taken from a different animated source that does not belong to the author, so for its own seperate Disclaimer, he doesn't own it. Now then, who can name the title to the song, or better yet, what series does it come from?**

**Disclaimer: Rune Soldier is not owned by the author of this story. If he did own it, this story would have been an animated sequel to the last set.**

**Genie: What the hell kind of comment is that about a second story? You find our lives and problems some kinda make believe or something?**

**G.B.: Of course it is. I mean, what kind of warrior woman goes running around in something like what you're wearing? It doesn't protect anything and just makes you look sleazy.**

**Genie: It distracts the pigs I usually fight. They're more concerned about a thigh and cleavage than they are about their safety.**

**G.B.: In that case, I know a few fanboys who have this tentacled horror they love for you to fight. I'm sure your feminine wiles will help you with that monster ****(The sounds of a sword being drawn rings out in the air)**

* * *

Celecia stood in the small grove behind the temple of Mylee. She may have traveled through nature coming here, but there had not been time to actually immerse herself in the feel of nature since the inn. She breathed deepely, hearing the whispers of the Sylphs in the wind, the chatter of Gnomes at her feet in the grass. She could sense the cold stirrings of Salamander from the brazier hanging from the back of the temple next to the door. She could feel the calming presence of Undine in the water barrel below the brazier.

She noticed the dwarf coming before he even suspected she knew he was there. He was quiet, but elves were masters of silence.

"It's odd to see an elf girl this high in the countryside away from their trees." The bass rumble of the dwarf sounding pleasant, but the way the breath moved into the wind spoke that he was slightly ruffled, maybe even flustered.

"You had many half-elves around town." Celecia spoke lightly. She had heard of half-elves from the Eldars, but had never seen her cousins.

"They wandered here when the woods were no longer welcome to them." Rydon sighed slightly, but adjusted himself and gazed at Celecia's back once again. "That's not why you are traveling with the humans, though."

Celecia could tell by the way his voice seemed to become firm like the earth that it wasn't a question. "I am following the other man, the mercenary." She wasn't about to say what he was or even who he was to even this person. Some knowledge was best left forgotten.

"The Rune Soldier?" Celecia snapped her head around and looked at the dwarf with shock on her face. He smiled wistfully. "We dwarves age as slow as you do. We are born of the earth, remember?"

Her mouth closed slowly, wondering how much the old dwarf actually knew. "You knew the moment you saw him." Celecia guessed at this, though she didn't know how close she came to the truth.

"I knew Him the moment I saw him." There was a slight inflection in there, but she was still slightly stunned, not catching it. "I take it that he is looking for Dardanel and you are making sure that he doesn't massacre anyone in the process."

She shook her head, blonde hair moving in a wave down her back. "Louie and his friends, the other women, they are looking for Dardanel for the King, as they explained earlier."

The dwarf didn't speak for many moments. "This human is that bad?" he asked, his voice soft and worried.

She couldn't feel the spirits around them anymore, nor could she hear them. She had wondered what they were going to have to do to fight Dardanel. "If it's just the man, we should be able to handle ourselves fine. But the powers he used at Ohfun was beyond anything humans have been able to use for centuries."

"The old Magicks…" Rydon sighed darkly. "That would explain a lot…"

Celecia turned to Rydon who look disturbed by recent events, his face clouded by a past he would rather forget.

"Master Rydon!" a villager came running around the corner of the temple, out of breath as obviously disturbed.

"What's wrong, have more monsters shown themselves?" Rydon headed for the back of the temple and opened the door, stopping only when the villager explained his rush.

"It's Lyssa, she fighting someone in dark leather armor through the entire village! Come quickly!"

* * *

Rapier clashed against long sword as Homun slashed hard at the girl called Lyssa. Silver hair swept out of the way as she stepped back and brushed the sword down past her, then turned the weapon in her hand and snapped it forward whip quick. Homun shifted his weight, leaning down over his weapon as the sword glanced off his shoulder, skipping off the leather as if it had struck hard metal. He pivoted on one foot, turning on the pad of his left foot as he spun his weapon up and toward her stomach only to have her hop back out of its range and come back inside after the weapon had passed.

She was everything he remembered.

His mind wasn't on the fighting they were in the middle of, nor was it on surviving. His mind was on the past as he relived fight after fight with her in them, sometimes at his back, sometimes with them unexpectedly finding each other in the middle of a large scale battle, but more often than not at each others throats. She stared death into him, willing him to die with every inch of her being and her attack as she moved viper quick with her rapier.

She got past his feeble deflection, slashing a cut over his left eye, only to step back before she could drive her point deep into his head as his blade grazed just above her knee. He fought recklessly, but sometimes he could be deceptive with his blocking and attacks, feinting all out assault while waiting for a counter-strike to open itself in their attacks so he could cripple or outright kill them.

She hopped back many feet out of his range and he didn't pursue her. He dropped the point of his weapon as she looked down at her leg. The legging had been cut cleanly with the deadly strike, aimed to cut into her kneecap and sever lower leg from upper. She adjusted her stance, raising her sword up with her right hand, she placed the tip of the blade in the palm of her left and crouched down slightly.

"It took me a long time to find clothing that suited my purpose." She hissed gently to him. He moved his blade back beside his thigh, adjusting his hands for the next attack. "I'll never find fitting replacements for them." He waited for her, watched and felt death making itself manifest through their gazes as shadows obscured all in their vision except each other.

Time was slow to him, or it appeared slow as she flowed from her crouch forward, driving her body forward with her front leg and bolster her speed with her front as it launched her forward. She was a silver arrow aimed for his heart yet she moved so gracefully toward him, and her hand began to pull away from the tip of her weapon. He pulled on his weapon, his attack not aimed for her, but for her weapon instead. Rapiers were made for thrusting, but with hard broad slices against their bodies, they were as brittle as glass.

The moment he started his attack, he knew he lost. Time flowed ever onward in its slow motion as his hands brought up the weapon before him, aimed for the rapier that would never be there. In an instant, time flowed normally again as the resounding sound of metal striking against metal echoed in the streets of the small town. Louie still stood on the steps of the bar, stunned to silence as the rest of the town either stood in windows or doorways, watching in amazement.

Lyssa came to a stop behind Homun, knee dragging into the ground to stop her forward motion as she looked over her shoulder. Rapier still in hand and unbroken, she held it up over her head as she glanced over her shoulder and held her eyes to the back of the man she knew best. Long sword held over his head and left shoulder, he let the tip find its way to the earth as it came down with its own weight guiding it to the dirt.

As the tip touched the street, the weapon broke into shattered metal pieces, leaving only the handgrip and guard in his greaved hands. He turned to her, and his face held something she hadn't seen in so long, bringing with it the bitter memory of their past as it rushed over her. They had been in a village like this many years ago, fought in a manner like they had just fought, only then he had begged for death.

"You were always better." He smiled happily as puncture wounds erupted from his shoulders and across his chest. Rapid fire strikes had pierced through leather armor as if it had not even been there and penetrated the body before the body registered the wounds. He coughed wetly, blood splatter flying from his lips as the breath rushed from his lungs, before he collapsed to one knee and finally to his back.

"Lyssa!" Rydon's voice echoed down the street as Celecia and the aged dwarf came running to them, the frightened villager trailing safely behind them. Rushing over to Homun's fallen body, Rydon knelt next to him and examined his body before glaring accusingly at her. "What have you done?"

She sheathed her rapier without saying anything to anyone. She watched as Homun bled out into the street while Rydon attempted to heal the damage done to Homun. He chanted and prayed slowly while Celecia walked up to Lysssa, anger on her face. Lyssa stared back at her, oozing unconcern for what would happen next.

"What the hell did he ever do to you?" Celecia shouted in her face, frustration giving her the strength to do something she had never done before. She held anger toward this woman, an uncommon emotion for an elf, but not impossible.

"Celecia!" Rydon called to her, turning the elf where she stood. "Give me a hand! We need to get him back to the temple as fast as we can."

"Don't touch him." Lyssa spoke with her soft voice though it made Rydon look at her as if she had called him a sinner. She walked over to Rydon and looked down at him with a firm stare.

"What are you going to do to him?" He asked her only to get a boot placed to his shoulder and gently pushed away from Homun.

She moved to his head and sat down slowly, lifting his head up gently and placed it into her lap. She looked down into his face that was crumpled in pain, blood trickling from his lips which she wiped away with her thumb. She smoothed his hair out from his brow, looking down at the damage she had done to his body. Rydon was about to reach for her, knowing he was tempting death for touching her, when she started to hum gently.

Homun's eyes snapped open as she started to hum down at him, his eyes blindly looking around though not seeing her so close to him. She ran her thumb over his brow, humming gently to him as he inhaled slow and deep.

"Caught by the moonlight…

A silent mist, a shimmer in the trees

Oh, what a night for dreams

A night of destiny…

Others are sleeping…

So unaware of magic in the air

Magic you weave…just for me…"

Homun sighed gently, weakly raising his arm to touch her hand on his face. The blood on his chest slowed imperceptibly to all but to Lyssa and Homun. His eyes started to clear as he looked up at hers, the look on her face one of focus as she continued to sing.

"Sweet fascination…

Though I don't understand the words you say

You whisper soft and low

And I am swept away…

Touch of enchantment…

I tremble when you hold me close this way

Drawn like a moth…to a flame…

"No." Homun took her hand in his, squeezing it tightly. His eyes shown with wetness as he looked up into hers. Her eyes hadn't changed, the purple color of her eyes gazed down at him without emotion, nothing like what he remembered.

He sat up, keeping his back to her as he sat there. His hands moved back to his lap as he gazed down at his boots. He breathed roughly, his chest still aching before he stood slowly to his feet. Rydon came over to help him, even Celecia approached him but he waved them off.

"I'm going to the temple." Homun spoke roughly as he walked away slowly, haltingly as he wobbled in place from time to time.

Louie walked over and stopped next to Rydon as he watched Homun head off. Lyssa stood up slowly herself, a little of the blood from the ground touching her leggings. She turned without a word and walked for the front of the city, toward the gates. Celecia watched as she headed for town, then turned and watched as Homun stumbled to the door of the temple, and finally inside of it.

"What just happened?" Louie spoke softly, not even sure he really spoke at all.

"You had the pleasure of watching two forces of nature trying to tear each other apart, only to have one of them help the other in the end." Rydon said as he patted Louie's wrist. "I have a feeling there will be more of the same to come, with those two around each other."

* * *

Night had come to the small town. Louie was in the temple as well as Homun and Celecia. News had traveled to Merrill, Melissa, and Genie about the fight that had nearly killed Homun, and that a woman had done it. Genie wanted to se the swordswoman who could hurt someone as deadly as Homun, Melissa came to see who had nearly offed her champion, and Merrill came because she wanted to thank the woman and advise her to aim better.

The fact that they were waiting at the tavern had nothing to do with it.

"So tell me again what this person looks like again?" Genie said as she sat down at the centermost table in the room. Many people were in here tonight, either farmers from the fields nearby or the guards from the gates.

"Apparently, she has violet eyes and silver hair." Melissa said as she gazed around the room, the barmaid making a high pitched meek sound as she fled from them after she had taken their order. "Can't say I've ever seen anyone with those kinds of attributes before."

"Silver hair and violet eyes?" Merrill said as she took the tankard from the maid and drank from it, eyeing the maid as she nearly fled from them. "I might be able to pull that look off, but I wouldn't want to walk around with magickly altered hair and eyes."

"That's the least of your problems." The woman was standing behind Merrill, silent as the wind and as subtle as a steel blade into the back. Genie stood up, jarring the table as she reached for her weapon at her hip to pull her free. Melissa looked like she had swallowed her tongue in shock while Merrill paled visibly, never sensing and still not sensing the person behind her.

"I heard that you were looking for me." The woman said as she took a seat next to the petrified thief.

"We wanted to see the woman who could fight and defeat that psycho of a mercenary, Homun." Merrill managed to get out as she tried to get some color back in her face with a long pull from her tankard.

"You certainly move like a killer." Genie had sat back down at the table, but adjusted the sword on her back, loosening it just in case.

"How dare you attack Louie!" Melissa stood up and slammed her hands into the table, glaring hotly at the woman who looked unconcerned at her. Lyssa almost looked absolutely bored out of her mind. "He didn't do anything to you and you tried to off him. What is it with you and Homun that you have to fight before you talk?"

Lyssa's eyes flashed darkly for a moment, making Melissa flinch, but she refused to back down from her. "If this was all you were going to ask me, I wasted my time coming here." Lyssa stood up, pushing her chair back and turning for the door when a man bumped into her and laughed darkly.

"That's the first time I've ever seen that look on your face, mercenary." He was nearly crowing his good fortune for catching the woman in a sour mood, extremely odd if not asking for trouble. "Did you find your boyfriend and finish him off?"

He looked over the silver haired woman and a look of recognition passed across his face as Genie tried to hide her face. The man pushed Lyssa out of the way and came over to the table, throwing a knife down in front of Genie that nearly vibrated against the bikini like top of Genie's clothing. Genie turned her face to the man, who brayed like a mule with laughter.

"In all my years I never imagined I run across Whirlwind Genie up in the northern lands of Ohfun." The man was nearly spitting, he was continuing to laugh as he spoke. "What brings a crack mercenary like you up to contested territory? Maybe you went back to the old game, foregoing your oath that you'd never be involved in war again?"

"I'd have been happier if I never saw your face again, Caraway." Genie stood up slowly, feeling the top give slightly. "I see they don't care for good mercenaries as long as the job is done, do they?"

The man shrugged his shoulders. "I do the job, but of course there are hazards with any job that happens." He crossed his arms over his vested chest, fingerless gloves locking on his biceps as he stood there, sneering at Genie. "I heard Barb was way out of the game, heard he took some snooty guardsman's job at a castle somewhere in Ohfun." He drug Barb's name through the dirt with his tone of voice, making himself clear about what he thought about their last boss.

"You don't have the right to talk bad about a man who left you to live when you killed our contract." Genie went reaching for sword on her back, but stopped when a rapier tip placed itself to her heart.

"Oy, oy, your making my little friend angry." The brown eyes of Caraway dared Genie to move. She winced slightly as the rapier pressed only a tad harder into her breast, yet she didn't remove her hand from the hilt of her weapon. He tapped his boots impatiently as he waited for the strike that would end Genie's life.

To his surprise, Lyssa brought her weapon down and away from Genie as she ducked. Caraway looked down dumbly at the crouching woman only to have his jaw forcibly knocked upward before nearly biting on his tongue for a second time as a second fist caught him full on. He reeled into the bar and threw his arms to either side to stay on his feet, the force of the punches taking his strength for a moment as he stared at who had done the deed.

Louie stood right where Caraway had stood momentarily, cracking his knuckles as he smugly smiled at him. "I'm afraid I can't let you take advantage of a lady in my presence, especially Genie." He smiled as he seemed to look down his nose at the man in disdain. "I wouldn't want her to dirty her weapons on a pig like you."

Caraway launched himself from the bar at Louie, fist raised to smash in that sneering grin when Lyssa stood in front of him and stared at him with ice in her gaze. He pulled himself short, dropping his arm as he looked hatefully at Louie, who was still grinning like a fool at him. "I'll get another chance at you, adventurer. One where Lyssa won't save you from my blade." He stomped angrily from the bar, Lyssa stopping at the doorway to look at Louie before she walked out behind and after him.

Louie turned to his friends when Genie's fist punched him flat onto his back. "I didn't need your help, Louie!" She yelled hotly down at the dazed mage. "What the hell were you thinking coming to MY aid!"

"I said it already, but since you need me to repeat myself," Louie stood up slowly, holding his face over his nose and mouth, "I didn't want you to dirty your weapons on that pig. You could have ripped him a new one seven ways to Sunday and would have if not for that woman."

Genie didn't have anything to say about that, true she had needed some unexpected help, but he was correct. Caraway was and looked like he was still a second rate swordsman, nothing she couldn't have handled on her own. "I'll have you know that you're the second person who dared call me a lady in my presence."

Louie looked skeptical at her but didn't say the question that was there in his head. Nodding to her compliment, he turned and headed for the bar, where he presently sat down on one of the stools and ordered a drink.

As Genie sat down, she was getting the sly eye from Merrill and a coy one from Melissa. "What?" she asked, reverting to her blunt way of speaking when in the presence of her friends.

"The last time someone tried calling you a lady, you beat him into nothingness." Merrill said as she recalled the incident quite clearly in her mind.

"Can it be that you actually have a soft spot for mages?" Melissa giggled like a school girl that had hinted at some sort of romantic interest that was too funny not to be.

"Let's just say that he's getting off lightly for backing me up when I needed it the most." Genie said as she took a drink from her tankard, enjoying the taste of her booze. She laid her eyes to Louie's back wistfully for a moment, unaware that Merrill and Melissa were watching like hawks.

* * *

"Are you sure it was them?" The voice speaking from a lavished armchair asked the silver haired one once again, yet patience held itself firm on her face.

"Homun was with them, so I cannot be sure, but your description of them was accurate enough for me to identify them as the ones who stopped your ascension from happening." She reported crisply to the man hidden in the shadows, red velvet leggings and silken slippers on his feet marking him of a noble, and one rich enough to waste silk on such footwear. "I assume that Homun has come for you."

"No doubt." The voice laughed at the possibility that fate would let loose something as destructive as the man if not for him. "The ruins I was able to read spoke of him quite clear enough to make him a priority if killing him before he gained too much strength, but now I think it will be very important to try and stop him now."

"Then I will go now and do it myself." Lyssa turned on her heel and began to walk away as the voice called out to her.

"No." the simple word stopped her, and if the shadows had not been hiding his face, she might have tried to kill him as well. "I want Jandice and Xoldir to kill him. You and Caraway have more important tasks to deal with."

"You are wasting needless resources on Homun." She wanted to tell him this bad enough, she wanted to spit. What she did say, however, was more along the lines of, "As you wish."

"I want you to observe the party, learn their potential." Fingers crooked together from out of the shadows, making a sort of pyramid, if the thumbs were not also touching. "Send Caraway and as many monsters as he wants to kill the band that came with Homun. I want them to be a snack for the local 'demons' to throw that arrogant Dwarf off of us for a little longer."

It was wrong that he would willfully waste so many Homunculi, it turned her stomach in a way that disgusted her. Still, she bowed her head to the order before turning and walked out of the shadowed room.

"I do not trust her." A woman's voice crooned from the darkness, her voice rolling slightly over the last word. She appeared next to the man in the chair, silk nearly sheer enough to be see through, and only held together strategically by the various gems that covered the necessary body parts to keep decency. Red hair like a burning flame cropped neatly around her face as her jade like eyes shined with their own light.

"Exactly why I didn't send her after Homun." The voice which had been commanding a second ago was now considering all that he knew. "I keep my spies close, and always spied upon my more trustworthy people…"

"You're not worried are you?" She leaned down in front of the shadowed face, her own hidden on the edge of darkness as she kissed the hidden man with black lipstick that clashed with her cream colored skin.

"Plans within plans, Jandice." The voice said with a soft laugh that spoke betrayal if not in so many words…

* * *

**Merrill: Hey Genie, what's with the blood all over the ground?**

**Genie: I had to deal with a pervert.**

**Melissa: Where's that author guy at?**

**Genie: He drug himself off to die someplace private.**

**(sweatdrops appear on Merrill and Melissa's heads)**


	14. Chapter 13

**I managed to survive the holidays after my near assassination by Genie, I just look like a mummy now. Here's hoping your holidays were better than mine were.**

**Disclaimer: Rune Soldier is owned by better people than me. 'Nuff Said.**

**Homun: Quick and to the point. You're learning.**

**G.B.: Better to get to it than to speak my mind and get my butt handed to me. Too many women out there agreed with Genie.**

* * *

"Get your elbows down, Louie!" Genie yelled again as she sliced forward toward the unprepared mage.

Sword practice, something Louie had not been looking forward to, and even less with the fact that Homun was watching both him and Genie as she gave him another beating. Genie called this lessons, Louie called it torture.

Managing to get his blade in front of himself and Genie's slash, the hard shock of blades striking against one another echoed up and down his arms. He managed to hold onto the weapon this time as his hands numbed from the brief hit of metals and brought his left hand under his right as he centered his blade toward Genie's mid-section.

Genie reacted to his shift as she spun the blade over her shoulders and behind her back, arms and body moving as she spun toward Louie. With her back to him, she managed to tap the tip of the sword to the side, making the thrust already miss before he had a chance to thrust with it. Completing her spin, she stopped as she brought the edge of her sword against Louie's neck.

"That was a good reaction." Genie was slightly out of breath as she tried to settle the fireburning through her body. "Instead of slashing, you turned it into a thrust. Most people would expect the slash over a thrust and get stuck on the blade as it buries into their guts."

"I still lost." Louie stood up straight, defeat heavy in the way he held himself.

"Had you fought anyone other than me and him," Genie nodded toward Homun, "You may have won." Louie looked over his shoulder at the silent mercenary, grimacing. "Luck is a big part of fighting, Louie. Luck on how much they've fought, the skill they may or may not have, and how arrogant they fight."

"Would you like some help?" Homun said as he raised himself off the wall. Standing straight, it hardly looked as if he had been grievously hurt at all yesterday. Louie assumed it had something to do with Rydon and Melissa's healing magic.

"I'd rather I learned how to do this myself." Louie said a bit harsher than he might have if someone else asked.

"I'm not going to augment you, if that's what you're thinking." Homun was walking over now and was coming up next to Louie as he continued. "I just thought of a way to use your sword as if it was your staff."

"That's not possible." Genie said as she sheathed her weapon before crossing hers arms over her ample chest. For a second, she thought she felt her chest armor budge, but wasn't too sure.

"Isn't it?" Homun asked as he took Louie's sword from him and his staff. Holding both in front of him, Homun looked critically at both before he took a splinter from the wand and handed it back to Louie. Placing the splinter into the crystal adornment on the dark weapon, he handed back to Louie. "Cast your fireball spell, now."

Looking skeptically at the sword Homun was offering back to him, Louie took the weapon and held it before him toward a target that was hanging from a rope. The words sang through him and into the blade where there was a moment of resistance before it found the piece of wand, then expanded as a ball of fire materialized before Louie's crystal on his sword. Casting his mind toward the target, the fireball followed the mental path his mind sent it on and the fireball flew true to the target, hitting and igniting the small piece of log that had been placed there.

Genie and Louie looked on with mild surprise that it actually occurred as Homun smiled his own dark smile. "I would suggest that you only cast one spell from it, and make sure that it's your best spell. If you manage to get the spell off before your attacker realizes you have cast a spell, it would be a great help."

Before Louie could thank Homun, several small green monstrosities threw themselves out of the bushes from the rear of the small grove behind Rydon's temple. A few came after them while some stayed at the edge of the woods, undecided on whether they would follow or wait to see how strong they were. Homun flicked his fingers one at a time at the three small goblins, bolts of fire launching from his fingertips and igniting the creatures before they could even get close.

The survivors back at the edge of the grove shrieked their high pitch talk before dashing back into the bushes, the sounds of trampling the sure signs that they were fleeing for their lives.

"Carrion." Homun muttered as the three bodies burned swiftly down to ashes under the magickal heat of the fire darts.

"How did they get inside the walls?" Louie said as he turned toward Genie, her face scrutinizing the woods around them.

"We'll have to go after them." Genie said, looking at Louie and sizing him up. He looked like he was able to handle himself, and he should be at least good enough to use a sword without cutting himself or her while they fought. If anything, he could use his fists to beat him to death like on their first adventure.

"I'll send help after you as soon as I can." Homun said as he looked from Louie to Genie. Both nodded to him and headed for the woods, leaving their cloaks behind so that they didn't get tangled up in the undergrowth.

He waited for a few moments, waiting till the sounds of their bodies brushing through the foliage disappeared totally before he turned himself to his left. "You can come out now." He called to the trees.

A man dressed in dark greens much like what Lyssa had been wearing came out of the woods. His face was masked off and his eyes showed no pupils, only white irises. Two short swords were nestled in his hands as he walked clear of the woods.

A woman laughed from the branches above the green clad man, wearing cream silks that were nearly see through and held together by gems into a sort of clothing. Her black lipstick looked curved in amusement as her jade like eyes gazed haughtily down at him. "Not going to call for help?" the woman smiled mockingly as she sat on the branch, uncaring whether she would fall off or not.

"I hardly need help for amateurs." Homun said as turned himself toward the man on the ground. Hostility poured off the man as off white hair sprouted in a spiky mass above the mask on his face. "I don't think your friend would wait long enough for help to arrive anyways." He was fingering a dagger under his cloak carefully, loosening it up with his fingertips as he waited for the inevitable attack.

"You'll learn you're mistake in death then." The man's voice was a soft death whisper as he moved almost faster than Homun could see. Had he not been prepared for the attack, he may have actually been hard pressed to deal with the man.

They moved as blurs across the grove from one end to the other, weapons clashing with each other back and forth as Homun and the man exchanged rapid fire strikes. Homun occasionally threw a projectile at the man as they came apart from one pass or another at each other, doing nothing more than watching the weapons miss time and time again. The man planted and turned in place, spinning under a tossed dart as he rushed back at Homun.

Homun stopped his side stepping and came after the man, intent on piercing his this time with his weapon when his foot caught on the ground. He fell headlong toward a rising short sword as he tried to process what had just happened to him.

* * *

Genie and Louie rushed after the fleeing goblins, following behind them to watch for any chance they may have passed through the walls of the city, only to lose them not much farther ahead of them. Genie came to a stop and motioned for Louie to hold up as she began to scan around for the creatures. It was a bit unusual that the goblins would continue to flee when they were being chased, and now that they had outright disappeared worried her warrior's sense.

"I thought you were better than this, Genie." Caraway's voice echoed around the area where they were at, though she couldn't see or hear where it was coming from. Genie's hand clinched on her sword tighter. "Walking into an ambush, you are slipping." The voice was taunting her from somewhere nearby, somewhere that he could see them but not the other way around.

From out of the foliage rose hobgoblins. Dark dirt brown skin and yellow eyes, they were the meaner version of their green cousins and stood nearly the height of a full grown man. Genie was cursing their bad luck as Louie turned and came closer to her.

"Do we have a plan?" Louie called over Genie's shoulder, slightly worried, but acting like this was a common occurrence for them.

"Fight our way out of the circle, head back the way we came until we come across support." Genie was hoping they could fight their way out, but then again, she was wondering if she could protect Louie as well as herself if they did manage to break away.

With Louie's back to her, they had at least a chance of fending off anything that came at them, but hobgoblins were more sadistic than their cousins, smarter with a crude semblance of torture before eating their kills, and they did eat anything. The smaller goblins rose up from out of the foliage at the heels of the hobgoblins, crude clubs of wood and a few stones made into piercing weapons held in their hands.

Before Genie could tell Louie to run, the hobgoblins screamed in their harsh language and a fight for their lives was on. She felt Louie as much as jump as the first ones came at him, but she didn't have time to think about him as she set to trying to live the next few minutes. There was no semblance to order as she fought, fighting wasn't about orders and details. She swung her sword the best she could, trying to keep it up out of the bushes at her shins and out of the reach of tree limbs above her.

The only thing that was saving them at the moment was that the beastmen were a lot like animals, instead of waiting for one to fall, they rushed in and took up the available space that was needed to swing the weapons they were holding, fighting each other at a chance to get at her and Louie. Louie was managing as best as he could, deflecting weapons made to crush bone and break arm all the while striking out with a fist from time to time when it permitted before following up with a slash or jab. Genie was handling them if only a bit better, she didn't dare move away from Louie's back to get a better chance to fight them away from him in fear that Louie would never notice she had stepped away and came a shot to the back that would most certainly be fatal.

It was almost her downfall as she stepped back into Louie and his elbow came back from a jab with his sword, making her sword arm in reflex drop her weapon when their elbows collided painfully. Cursing her ill fate, she reached up and over her shoulder even as she watched a club raise up in front of her while a stone made into a dagger came at her gut. Instinctive to protect herself from the slash, she caught the grimy green wrist with her hand and guided it roughly up and barely against her armor as she tried to brush the club away in the same motion.

It never made her as Louie's fist whipped over her left shoulder and punched the hobgoblin in the face, causing it to reel back and club the unfortunate goblin under it. The green creature fell to the ground in a heap, its skull crushed from the unexpected blow from above even as Genie's great sword swung free from behind her and she cleaved the hobgoblin in half.

As if they had planned the next move, Louie dropped below her waist and Genie swung with everything she had, spinning on her heel as she held the blade out in front of her and cut in a circle. Arms and bodies and the occasional head met with the keen blade and flew from where they had been whole before, now dismembered from them. Bodies and parts flew from the ungainly attack, but effective it was as what was left of the creatures fled from them, disappearing toward a large crack in the wall of the city.

Coming to a stop and holding the great sword out in front of her as if it was a regular sword, she waited for more of the beastmen to appear or to try and take their chances once again. Louie stood back up, briefly checking to see if he had any hair left on his head before placing his hand onto the hilt of his sword and protected Genie's back.

Silence rained after the brief free for all that seemed never to have happened now, though the bodies of the hobgoblins and goblins littered around them, more for Genie, but still a few on Louie's side for his efforts. Resheathing her great sword over her back, She reached down and picked up her dropped sword and sheathed that as well before rounding on Louie and slugging him.

"Geez, Genie," Louie whined as he held the back of his head, his sword forgotten in front of him in the ground, "Why'd you do that for?"

"You about got us killed, that's why!" Genie was breathing fire and brimstone at Louie in anger, her shouting echoing around them as she breathed heavily. "You knocked my weapon out of my hand at the worst possible time! Had you not at least decked that Hobgoblin, you and I would both be dead now!"

Something glinted as Louie stood up over his shoulder, her eyes had barely picked up the motion as she was willing Louie to die only to see her will manifest itself in a sniper's arrow coming at Louie's head from behind. Genie reacted instinctively and jumped on top of Louie, pushing him down into the ground and laying on top of him as she tried to look above the bushes to see if another was coming or not. Louie struggled for a few moments until Genie rabbit punched him in the side and shushed him as she waited and kept looking around.

Louie was about to die, he was sure about it. First she punches him in the back of the head, then she jumps him and forces him into the dirt, and punches him in the kidney for good measure. Still, she didn't look at him as she kept her eyes up and looking in a different direction while her body pressed down on him.

It was at this moment that his body decided to betray him. Wanting to turn over to find out what was going on above them, Louie attempted to shift once again, only to have Genie straddle his hips and raised a finger to her lips. All he could do was look up toward her face and try to not see her breasts which were about to fall out of her top, the threading that had been hit yesterday in the bar taking a second clip from the crude dagger damaging it to near uselessness.

Her body may have been well toned enough to be a man's body, but the curves on her was by no way that of a man's. The scent of her still perspiring body was affecting him now worse than ever with him pinned under her, he could practically smell femininity pouring off her, though she was on the hunt for their next attack. That's when the blood started seeking other avenues to gather on his body, places he was sure Genie would notice.

He waited, hoping beyond hope that she would never notice. He saw her head hitch, as if finally seeing something that had caught her attention only to watch it ever so slowly scan the area once again. She crouched down over him, pushing herself slightly harder down into his body and he whimpered in the pain that was going to come to him when this was all over with, only to have her crawl off of him and disappear into the bushes.

The look of abject fear on his face was one only a man who knows he is about to die in ways that would make death all that much more merciful slipped off as he turned over and began to peer around for Genie. Even if he wasn't able to at least curtail his body through its basic lust, he was still worried about his partner. He poked his eyes just above the foliage, turning this way and that way, looking for any signs of Genie or of their attacker, Caraway.

Minutes stretched by as he became more and more worried for Genie until she appeared from behind a tree, a broken bow held in her hands. She motioned for Louie to come over to her and believing it was safe, rushed over to her side.

"Did you find him?" Louie said, still hoping beyond hope that she didn't notice his slight slouch.

"No." She said sadly as she studied the bow a little longer before casting it aside. "Seems he was intent on taking just one of us by surprise then disappeared like a rat." Genie's brows were furrowed as she peered back the way they had come. "Getting beastmen to do his dirty work is a little too shabby for him, I don't like it."

Louie was still sweating bullets when he realized that the sun was starting to head down for the night and the light was beginning to fade. Seeing that practice couldn't have taken all that long, he guessed that they must have been fighting for an hour, maybe more. Only then did Louie realize how much his sword arm ached as it suddenly seized into a cramp.

"I wonder what happened to our help?" Louie muttered as he rubbed his bicep slowly, trying to work the spasm out.

"We'd better go and find out." Genie said as she sheathed her sword at her hip, then took off back to the grove behind Rydon's temple.

Sighing with a little relief mixed with worry, Louie rushed after the swordswoman.

* * *

As Louie and genie arrived back at the grove, Homun picked himself up out from underneath a tree and dusted at his legs and cloak. Genie and Louie gave him a curious look before looking at each other, then walked over and confronted the mercenary.

"Was it a trap?" Homun asked before words could slip from behind Genie's lips.

Louie's face darkened. "You knew?" he asked. Well, not really asked, more like accused.

"It was obvious the moment the goblins ran off." Homun said as he stretched and yawned. "Goblins live for destruction, and they're mindless of plans unless under a geas."

"What about the help?" Genie asked, as Homun began to walk by them.

"You obviously didn't need it." He said as she walked into the doorway and disappeared from sight.

* * *

The local inn was the only place where a decent bath could be had, and thankfully, Louie was allowed to use it. Unfortunately, the bath was a unisex and would have made things complicated had the inn had guests. Fortunately with all the trouble around the countryside, tourism was definitely something that wasn't drawing people here.

Though the path was nothing more than an outside pool, the water couldn't really be called warm even with it soaking the heat from the sun all day. Still, a little of Louie's patented fireball magick soon turned it into a hot springs of sorts. He sighed at how pathetic his magickal talent was being a mage who could only cast a fireball spell reliably, but at least his sword skill have proved up to the task today.

Louie sighed as he sat down into the water, a towel tightly wrapped around his hips for decency sake, while a washcloth sat on his shoulder that was still killing him. It had been a near thing for them today, he had thought his elbow had struck something during the fighting, never imagining that he had knocked Genie's weapon from her hand. "Guess it's true that luck in battle is important." Louie thought to himself as he sighed.

The sound of a sliding door behind him didn't register to his relaxing body and the shadow that was cast over him he didn't notice as his eyes were closed. Only when someone kneeled behind him did Louie make a noise and turn to see who was behind him.

"Turn around, Louie, and I'll break you." Genie's harsh command made every muscle in Louie lock up, much to his regret as his shoulder screamed in pain.

"Genie?!" Louie managed to sputter out behind the wince he suddenly caught. Thought of late afternoon fighting and her covering him sprung to his mind. "What are you doing here?!?"

"I saw you rubbing your arm earlier after the fighting." Genie said as she worked behind him. Louie turned back to face out into the open water as he refused to turn around and look at the swordswoman. "If you don't treat it now, it won't be worth using tomorrow."

Thought were racing through his head as he was trying to get Genie to go away, anything at all would do. "Oh, that." He laughed weakly as he put a hand to the back of his head. "I'll just ask Master Rydon to take a look at it when I get back."

Genie sighed behind him and Louie shuddered. He'd heard that sound of disappointment before, and for him it meant that she wasn't going to leave him alone any time soon. "If a monster attack happens in the morning and Rydon is needed to heal those who are injured, that would be one less healing spell necessary to save someone's life." The sound of something was being unwrapped behind Louie, like cloth rasping against one another made Louie wish to be anywhere else right now.

"Oh, yeah." Louie spoke as if he had just remembered this bit of wisdom. "You told me that when we were going on that training exercise with Melissa's apprentices." He felt Genie reach into the water and pull his arm up and out of the bath, then felt as her hand touched his muscled arm carefully.

"You overworked it a bit," as her fingers played over his arm, Louie's mind immediately leapt back to being under Genie, "Feels like you almost tore it." She finished her check of his arm and began to bandage it carefully, applying the bandages to his arm that smelled of herbs. "Let this soak in the water and it should be useable by the morning." Genie said as she finished wrapping his arm, then did something else behind his back that he couldn't see.

Louie flexed his arm. The bindings were tight, but not so bad that he would lose the feeling in his fingertips. "You're pretty good at that." He marveled aloud. "When did you learn how to bind wounds?"

"All mercenaries need to learn how to do this simple bit." Genie said as she stood back up, her shadow elongating over Louie. "You don't see as many battles as I did without learning how to tend to strained muscles." Her shadow receded behind him and Louie laid back, beginning to relax as he thought he was in the clear.

"Louie?" Genie called back to him and he sat back up straighter in the water. "You did good today. I'm proud to have you as part of the team." Louie was feeling proud of himself until Genie spoke again. "That's why you get to walk away with your life today, pervert." The door closed after she finished speaking.

Back in the tub, Louie was crying.

* * *

**For those of you who thought that Louie was going to get some action, shame on you. Genie was never one to show any romance toward Louie, she's a woman who loved and lost it. Still, romance is possible depending on if anyone goes in for that sort of thing. Plus, there's still Homun and Lyssa's past. Were they romantic once in the history books?**

**Homun: That's none of your business...**

**G.B.:Hey bud, I just write it. So, in essence, it is my business. Especially when it comes to airing dirty laundry like...um...is that a fireball in your hand or are you just glad to see me?**


	15. Chapter 14

**I dedcided to slow this chapter down a bit, given that I did two fight chapter back to back. They deserve a little break from time to time, don't you think?**

**Disclaimer: I have been ordered to say that I Do Not Own Rune Soldier. It's the truth, but I wanted to lie for a change...**

* * *

"I'm getting plenty bored around this town." Merrill said as she sat at the bar in town during the afternoon. She was spinning a dagger at the handgrip balancing the blade on its tip on the table. Melissa and Genie were sitting around the table as well, though listening to Merrill whine about their plight. 

"Haven't heard anything about Dardanel, have you?" Genie said as she held her arms crossed in front of herself. The scowl on her face was for their lack of information on the subject.

"It seems as if we'll be staying in town for a bit until we can find him." Melissa sipped her tea while sighing at their misfortune. Mylee did test the faithful more so than those who believed in blind luck.

"It's about as hard to find him as it is to find a sense of humor in Homun." Merrill doubted the guy knew what humor was, and if he did, he killed it long ago for the bounty placed on it.

"What should we do till then?" Genie was pretty much up for any kind of idea, though it better involve using her sword arm.

"Well, we could go out and find the source of the monsters." Melissa offered, looking around at the few villagers out the window and in the building. "This place is so gloomy. I don't think I've seen even the children smiling."

"Yeah, no kidding." The mood started to get depressed as Merrill thought about the few odd jobs she'd already picked up around town to keep the money flowing into her pocket. "I haven't heard a laugh in awhile." As if the thought of laughter was some kind of inclination, Merrill continued by asking a question way off topic. "Has anyone seen Louie lately?"

"Not since yesterday." Genie wanted another go at the mage, his skills with a sword had at least gotten better to be decent if the fight had been any indication.

"Now that you mention it, I don't think he came back to Rydon's temple after yesterday night." Melissa placed a finger to her chin as she tried to think of what may have happened to him.

Color came up in Genie's face at the mention of the inn, enough change for Merrill to notice it and ask with a snicker, "You and Louie didn't go out and get drunk again, did you Genie?"

"There wasn't any celebrating our near death escape, if that's what you mean." Genie scowled a little harder, though the color in her face increased as well.

The ladies at the table crossed their arms as they sat in contemplation, deciding their next course of action.

* * *

"Why is it again that we're out here for?" Louie asked Rydon, Homun and Celecia were with him outside of town a bit off the main path. All but Homun were smiling at him, which was making him a bit nervous. 

"Your magick is pathetic." Homun simply threw down at his feet, which made Louie slump.

"Homun." Rydon gave the mercenary the eye to which he shrugged back at the dwarf.

"We're here to help you learn your magick a bit better so that you learn to cast your spells easier for you." Celecia smiled brightly to him, though she wasn't exactly sure how they were going to go about doing that for him.

"Great. I'm such a burden on everyone that I'm getting tutored by an elf, a dwarf, and a mercenary that wants to kill me." Louie thought to himself dismally as he straightened himself back up, pulling his wand out in front of himself.

"To start with," Homun said as he pointed at Louie, "put that toothpick away."

"Wha?" Louie spoke aloud, confused. "Wait a minute, How am I going to use magick without my wand?"

"You don't listen too well, do you?" Rydon said gently as he stroked his beard, a hand resting on his warhammer as it stood handle down into the dirt, his hand resting on the great head. "She said we'd help you learn your magick better, not teach you how to cast magick."

Still a bit confused but doing what the mercenary said, he put his staff away as Celecia walked forward into the center of their impromptu group. Taking a deep breath, Celecia closed her eyes and opened herself up to nature. "Gentle gust of faraway lands," She called as her voice seemed to begin to intone power, "breath of air that springs forth from all nature, I Celecia call you forth to my cause. Stir together and take form, messenger of Sylph the Eternal."

A slight gust of wind spiraled together from a small breeze, spinning in place near Celecia's head as a form began to materialize in the wind. Homun walked up behind Celecia and reached his hand under the minor zephyr, cupping the wind as the form materialized and became a pixie. The pixie looked confused for a moment before it turned to Homun and with a high pitched giggle, wrapped itself to his face.

With a curse, Homun reached for the annoying shrill pixie that zipped off his face and sat placidly on his head, humming in a high pitched sing song voice. He hesitated in reaching up and throttling the little wind spirit, eventually dropping his hand, but looking annoyed at the precociousness of the elemental.

Louie looked awed at the little spirit as it formed, and tried to suppress his laughter as it glomped Homun's face, finally succumbing to his need to laugh as it sat on his head with a happy look. Dressed all in green, much like the elf herself, the tiny spirit looked to be a miniature elf, but with luminescent green wings vibrating on its back. Homun was trembling slightly, glaring death at Louie, who could do nothing but look at the mercenary and laugh harder.

"Can we get back on topic, please?" Homun breathed hotly, barely maintaining the rage behind his intentions.

Louie wiped at his eyes as he stood up and tried to keep his humor under control. "Ok, let's continue." He giggled a few more times as Homun exhaled darkly. Homun pointed over at Louie and the pixie seemed to look down at Homun's face from his head before lifting up and floating over to the mage.

Louie jerked back as it floated in front of his face, the slightly elf like features of the spirit looking at Louie as if wondering what he was.

"This is pixie, a minor air elemental." Celecia explained as the spirit flew all around Louie, sometimes sniffing him, sometimes poking at him. "We want you to try meditating while she is floating around you."

Louie looked skeptically at Celecia and Homun answered the question that Louie was about to ask. "While meditating, you get a feel of all magick around you, but you have a problem discerning the different aspects of magick. You should know your magick better before trying to attempt to cast it."

Still looking skeptical, Louie closed his eyes and sighed out briefly, making the pixie careen off with his breath before coming back and beating its tiny hands into Louie's brow. Centering himself to feel the flow and ebb of magick, Louie focused on the powers around him. As he did, pixie stopped in mid punch as it tilted its head to the side, as if listening to something. Soon it began to float in lazy circles around him, humming a soft tune as if it were singing a lullaby.

"What do you feel, son?" Rydon asked as he watched with amusement as the precocious air elemental spun in a pirouette on Louie's head.

Louie crinkled his eyebrows in frustration. "I don't feel anything. It's like it always is."

Rydon raised an eyebrow and turned to Homun, who only shrugged then nodded to him. Reaching down into the grass at his feet, Rydon picked up a gnome dressed in earthy brown and sporting a dirt encrusted beard. Broad nose as the dwarf, he threw the minature version of himself at Louie. The air elemental saw the little gnome come flying through the air and with a shrill cry, zoomed above the lofted gnome and back to Homun.

Louie swooned for a moment before giving a muffled cry as the gnome crashed into his face and knocked him over.

"Louie!" Celecia cried as she came over to help the mage back to his feet while Homun snorted and Rydon chuckled.

"What the hell was that for?" Louie said as he shouted at the dwarf and the mercenary, Celecia helping him up.

"You felt it that time, didn't you?" Homun asked him as the air elemental peeked from behind his shoulder, sticking its tongue out at Louie.

Reaching for his own shoulder, he was trying to extricate a gnome from his cloak without tearing the fabric. Celecia wasn't having that much ease with it either. "Yeah, it was like a color in my head suddenly shifted hues as the pixie shouted and the gnome hit me."

"Colors?" Rydon said as he raised his eyebrows and looked at Homun.

"Close enough." Homun snapped his fingers at Louie and gestured with his hand to the ground. The gnome spoke quickly to Homun and gestured in the universal sign for number one before jumping down from Louie's cloak and disappearing into the grass. "Rude creatures." Muttered Homun as Celecia left Louie and came back between the little group.

"Small drop that fall from the sky," once again, Celecia voice took on that note of power as she chanted, "rivulets that rush home to the embrace of the Mother, I Celecia call out to thee. Come forth at my behest, Daughter of Undine."

Water began to pool together in midair as moisture pulled fro mall around and into a globe of water that floated near the heart of Celecia. The water slowly molded itself till a sprite formed, floating in the air with deep blue eyes. The upper body was much like that of the pixie, though wingless, while the lower body was that of a fish. Louie could only think of a mini mermaid as the blue elemental swam upward in the air as if it was in water.

The air spirit immediately flew to the water elemental and clasped hands with it, turning in mid air as they laughed with each other before it noticed Homun. Whispering into the blue girl's ear, they both giggled and came down to him, circling around his head and using their high pitched sing song voices as they made laps around his head.

Homun's eyebrow twitched.

Before Homun could speak, the water spirit took a second to fly down in front of his face and smile up at him lovingly before kissing him on the nose. Homun's eyes turned to slits as he gestured toward Louie. The water spirit ignored him for a second before Homun snorted, making the elemental whimper in sadness before it swam over to Louie again. The wind spirit looked upset and kicked Homun in the side of the head before turning away from him and crossing its arms.

Getting the clue this time before being told what to do, Louie slipped back into his trance. Even before the water spirit got close to him, it cocked its head slightly then laughed before rushing over to him and spun laps around his head much like what the wind elemental had done before him.

"How do you feel?" Celecia asked, wondering if there was any difference. She really didn't want to have to summon a fire elemental as they were extremely temperamental and hard to control.

"I can see the difference." Louie said, beginning to understand a little. "Instead of colors this time, I see ripples in the magick, like it's made of water."

Homun rolled his eyes as the air spirit sat back down on his head, forgetting its moment of being upset at the mercenary as Louie focused on his talent. Rydon was guessing this was the result Homun wanted to get across to the mage as the mercenary didn't speak up. Celecia was looking at Louie with joy on her face, though there was a giggle or two as the sprite jumped up and down and over Louie's head occasionally, as if it were a dolphin.

"Do you know why your magick screws up now all the time?" Homun spoke, snapping Louie out of his concentration. As Louie's eyes snapped open, both the air spirit and the water spirit put their hands to their ears, as if they heard something unpleasing to them.

The water spirit disappeared outright while the air spirit stood on Homun's head and began to stomp a mudhole into him. The look on Louie's face said he didn't like the words 'screw up', but that he didn't know why.

"It's because you try to use the wrong element for your magick." Homun began to explain as he raised his hand palm up. Four balls appeared in Homun's hand, each representing the four elements. "Say for instance the paralysis spell you tried using on me the first time we met." A golden ball rose up above the others while the others sat underneath, unmoving. "You were thinking air at the time being when you tried to cast it, hoping to catch me at a distance instead of up close."

As he finished, a dark brown ball rose up exactly opposite from the golden ball. "Paralysis is an earth bound magick. Instead of throwing it through the air, where it had nothing to travel through, it was burning itself out until your friend hit you and it had somewhere to travel to."

The brown ball sank as the red ball raised up. "The only reason why your fireball can travel through the air is because it burns with air, though has nothing to burn on while traveling, losing power as it moves." The blue ball rose next, exactly opposite of the red one. "Did you know that chanting the same spell, but thinking water will create a water ball that can do the same thing, but have more effect than that flimsy fireball of yours?"

Closing his hand, he looked Louie in the eye hard. "Thinking you're a useless mage only proves how ignorant you are." He saw that Louie flinch slightly making Homun step toward him in a challenging way. "You picked up that the elements when called alter themselves when near at hand, why is it so hard to believe that you are a failure when you've been taught all wrong?"

"My father didn't teach me wrong!" Louie reached for his weapon, tugging hard while being unable to pull it free from its sheath.

"Muscle bound cretin." Homun lifted his hand palm outward toward Louie as he created a fire in his, the flame burning brightly as it waited for release. "Die in ignorance then." The ball came to life on its own as it sped away from Homun's hand, streaking through the air as Louie watched in horror.

Reaching one hand back to his staff, he drew his other hand back and punched the fireball out of the air, blowing it out with his fist as he smashed it with his knuckles. His hand smoked a little as he panted, watching as a layer of water rolled across his gloved hand.

Homun dropped his hand, a smug look on his face. He turned and left, Rydon following after him without saying a word while Celecia came up and held on to Louie's arm. He released his staff and watched as the water on his fist washed away, falling to the ground with a splash.

"Are you ok, Louie?" Celecia asked him, trying to see into his eyes. She was cursing herself for agreeing to help Homun when Louie began to chuckle.

"If he thinks he can get away with insulting my dad like that, he's got another thing coming." Outrage was in his eyes and a smirk on his face as Louie clenched his hand tighter. "I'll show him exactly what my old man taught me, then we'll see who's laughing then."

* * *

"That was pretty gutsy of you, casting a fireball spell at the kid." Rydon spoke lightly, trying not to look up at Homun's face while the pixie sat on his shoulder and hugged his cheek in adoration. 

"The kids got potential." Homun's eyebrow was twitching as the pixie sighed happily, fully intent on never letting go of Homun's face. "It was obvious what his problem was. It's just more proof that fools are teaching magick as they see it so that they are the soul owners of the art, and too arrogant to tell the truth before they die so that magick is a lost art."

"Have you ever stopped to consider that magick should be a lost art?" This time Rydon did look up at Homun, wanting to see his reaction to that comment.

Homun didn't answer the dwarf. They had that very same conversation ages ago in a long gone past, reliving it wasn't going to change the answer. Homun's eyes locked onto someone and he came up short, Rydon getting another step further before looking down the street. His eyes widened in surprise and he hefted his warhammer for a fight, only to be held back by Homun.

Lyssa walked up to both of them, nodding to Rydon while peering curiously at the pixie affixed to Homun's face. The pixie seemed to notice the woman's presence and glared hotly at her while holding tightly to Homun's cheek.

"Tell me that's not a pixie I see on your face." Lyssa said with a little scorn in her voice.

"It's not." Homun said smoothly, as if the lie was natural.

Lyssa's eyebrow raised slightly, a mild curiosity settling on her. "Exactly what is it then?"

"A magickal irritation." Homun replied, feeling the pixie kiss his cheek, not realizing that it turned back to Lyssa and stuck its tongue out at her.

Lyssa's eyebrow ticked slightly. In a flash, Homun grabbed her hand before it got close to the pixie, the poor thing shrieking in fright as it ducked behind Homun's shoulder and peered hatefully at the woman's hand that had nearly flicked it off Homun's face. Lyssa stared a challenge at him, to which he released her wrist.

"You always had the weirdest notions." Lyssa said as the pixie floated up behind Homun's head, peeking out from behind his ear.

"You had a thing for water sprites, last time I checked." Homun spoke dryly, earning him a scathing look that should have flashed fried him where he stood. "What do you want, Lyssa?" small talk was over, he wanted some answers.

"Some advice." Lyssa spoke, picking at Homun's collar so that her eyes didn't make contact with his as she talked. "Lose the humans. They're going to drag you down to their level."

"I'll return the favor since you were so kind to advise me." Homun stopped her hand from picking at his collar, making her eyes look up at his. "Get out of my way." His eyes and voice conveyed the death sentence he was assuring her. Releasing her hand, he pushed her gently to the side and walked past her, Rydon gazing back at her as they continued down the street.

Homun never looked back.

* * *

**Serves you right for trying to attack me, you murderous, humorless, walking shadow of death. See if I take that pixie off you anytime soon. (sticks his tongue out at Homun's back)**

**Melissa: Why are you whispering so quietly and why is there a pixie on Homun's face?**

**G.B.:(freaks out before realizing who it is) Don't scare me like that, God!!!**

**Melissa: It's not polite to blaspheme either... (glares slightly at the author)**

**G.B.: That's your God, not mine.**

**Melissa: What do you believe in then if not God?**

**G.B.: I believe strip clubs, taxation, and presidents get blamed for everything (whether they deserve it or not)**

**Melissa: (clasps her hands together before her) This is so totally against my will...**

**G.B.: Amen, Sister**


	16. Chapter 15

**We've had a tender moment, we've had some angst between old friends/enemies, we've even had lessons in magick. But where's the humor anymore? Rune Soldier epitomizes Humor, too bad I do such a poor job at jokes...**

**Disclaimer: Rune Soldier doesn't have any clowns in it, but plenty of clowning around. Also, I don't own Rune Soldier, but I do pistol whip my clowns at least once a night. There's just something wrong with a clown... (shivers)**

* * *

Closing the last of his items into the small haversack, he slung it over his shoulder and turned to the door, taking up his warhammer in one hand. "I appreciate your coming with me. She can be a bit…temperamental."

"You did your bit for me, I'm simply returning the favor." Homun unclasped his arms as he pushed off the doorframe with his shoulders. "What about her?" Homun tilted his head back toward the hall behind him, toward someone unseen.

"Hopefully, we can make her believe." Rydon said as he walked past Homun into the hallway. Homun fell in behind him, following him down the hall as they came to the end where the blonde haired priestess awaited him. "I appreciate your assistance. Are you sure your friends will not miss you?'

"Unless they suddenly find something to do beside the jobs or training, then there should be no problem in going with you." Melissa smiled innocently to the old priest, though she looked over his shoulder to Homun behind him. "Besides, it is my honor to help out one of the faith."

"That remains to be seen." Homun said with a smile. It didn't inspire confidence, but more along the lines of dark mirth

* * *

"Has anyone seen Melissa in the last few days?" Louie asked as he popped into another mouthful of food from in front of himself.

"Not since she left with Homun and Rydon to wherever." Merrill was working just as fast to stuff her face with the food on the table, smacking Louie's hands away from the goods.

Genie was busy cutting into a steak and jabbed the fork into hands that broached too near to it. "I wouldn't worry too much. Rydon is a member of Mylee, I doubt he'd let anything bad happen to her. Even if Homun is with them."

"Um…Do you guys usually eat like this?" Celecia sat between Genie and Louie, wonderment on her face at the lack of manners of both Louie and Merrill.

"First come, first…Hey! That's my dumpling!" Merrill shouted at Louie as he snatched away the last dumpling, biting into it before placing the rest of it onto his plate.

Genie took hold of her napkin as food started getting thrown across the table at Louie and Merrill. She dabbed at her lips and sighed. "Animals." She said quietly to herself, disgusted with both of their antics.

Moments later outside of the tavern, Louie and Merrill were picking food off of themselves, still trying to eat what they could while Genie and Celecia discussed the missing priestess. Not long afterwards, Homun came walking through the gates of the town and walked over to them, a dark look on his face while the bright green pixie flew around his head.

"Homun." Genie said, looking around for any signs of other following until he stood before her, obviously alone. "Why are you alone?"

"I came back to town to invite guests for the bride." Homun looked smug for a second until the pixie flew down into his face and kissed his nose once again. Brushing her lightly away from his face, he continued. "It would be in your best interests to come with me."

Celecia tilted her head to the side as she tried to process why Homun would invite them. "Are you sure you should be inviting us? I mean, you did come back to invite friends of the bride, didn't you?"

"Oh, I think you'll do." The dark smile sprung up on his face as he watched them look at him dumbly.

* * *

"Explain it to me again, slowly." Louie said as he picked at his clothing, still finding food from somewhere on his person. They walked down the dirt road following Homun, who looked as if nothing could be funnier to him. The pixie sitting on his shoulder hummed happily along to their marching.

"You are cordially invited to a wedding." Homun said again, almost happily taunting them. "That is what one says when being invited, is it not?" Correction, he _was_ openly taunting them.

They were walking nearby a stone cottage when Homun turned into the yard. Looking at each other in confusion, they hesitated following him to the door of the house.

Homun knocked on the door and turned away from it, idly leaning up against the building next to the door. He was smiling as if he knew a dark secret and it was about to shock the hell out of everyone.

The door opened to a woman in a long white dress, the ones you'd normally find at wedding halls. The person wearing the dress was one that made everyone surprised. "Ah, you're here." Rydon said, looking none too pleased about seeing them at the house, though turned and walked into the building.

"Please tell me we didn't just see that.' Louie uttered as he tried to wipe the image from his head.

"That was the ugliest bride I've ever seen." Merrill uttered right on the heels of Louie.

"I'm not sure I want to see the groom that would marry that." Genie whispered over to Louie and Merrill, shocked out of her boots much like her partners.

"Wow, I didn't know dwarves married in something so frilly." Celecia said, not the least bit shocked as she walked toward and into the open house.

"Does that girl have no fashion sense what so ever?" Merrill said as she shook her head and walked in after the elf girl. Louie and Genie followed close on their heels, though Louie stopped and looked to Homun.

"Aren't you coming in, too?" Louie asked him a bit confused.

"No thanks." He said with the smile still on his face. "I'd rather stay safely sane, thank you."

Louie eyed him for the comment, though he shrugged his shoulders and stepped inside. He didn't get too far as he came up short, nearly into the backs of his friends as he stared dumbfounded at the groom. The 'groom' was kneeling down on the ground, dressed in a classic black tuxedo with bow tie, blonde hair falling down their shoulders as their hands were clasped before there in prayer.

"This is totally against my will…" was all Melissa could say as tears ran unhindered from her eyes.

* * *

"Explain this to me again." Louie said as he looked strangely at Melissa.

"I think I've heard enough." Genie said, thoroughly disgusted with the explanation.

"Louie needs a map drawn for him so that he can keep up with the rest of us adults." Merrill patted him on the head as if he was a kid who just didn't have the mental faculties to keep up with the rest of the adults.

"I still don't understand why you're marrying Rydon." Louie said as he scratched his cheek with one finger.

"Are you telling me she's not my son's wife to be?" A diminutive woman stood in the doorway leading to the rest of the house holding a staff that was twice her height. Long silverfish white hair flowed in braids down her back and across her shoulders while her light sapphire eyes stared hard at everyone in the room.

"No, of course I'm his wife." Weak smiling added with the soft giggle led an unconvincing farce, though the old woman seemed to break into a smile.

Walking over on her short legs, the old woman clacked her oversized staff on the floor as she walked over to Melissa and took Melissa's hand into her own. "I'm so glad that you both decided to honor an old Dwarf's request like this. It'll make me so happy to see for myself how happy you make my son." She patted Melissa's hand lightly and headed for the door, disappearing off into the rest of the house.

Louie pointed at the doorway where the old woman had disappeared to. "That's what I want answers to." Louie spoke still utterly confused as to why Melissa was not correcting her.

Looking sadly down at her feet, Melissa began to explain. "I was approached by Rydon a few days ago. Apparently, he received a letter stating that his mother was about to die and that she needed to make sure he was well taken care of before leaving. Rydon asked me since I am of the Mylee faith to fulfill this request of hers."

"Yeesh, that's got to be rough." Merrill said as she cupped her hands behind her head and leaned against the wall on one leg. "How is he taking the news?"

"As you can imagine, not very well." Melissa sighed despondently. "I think he and his mother are very close to one another, and it shows that he is at least trying to fulfill her wishes."

"Are you sure that's what it is?" Louie looked out in the hall at a glowering Rydon passed their doorway, still wearing a bridal dress meant for a woman. "He doesn't look too thrilled to me."

"You're not exactly the most perceptive person to be saying something like that." Genie said from next to Louie, her arms crossed over her bosom while she mulled over the story.

"Yeah, Louie." Merrill shot him a look that shouted doubt. "The most romantic you've ever been is when you were out carousing with the barmaids in Ohfun before meeting us. You think any of those women enjoyed being ogled or groped by you?"

"Hey, I have a little class." Louie puffed up his chest some, feeling his pride taking a beating and at least attempting to defend it.

"And you skipped most of those, or were asleep for the rest of them." Genie shot down and watched as Louie's pride burst into flame and crashed.

* * *

An hour later, everyone was gathered around Rydon and Melissa as they held hands with each other and was beginning their vows. The matriarch, Rydon's mother, stood before them as if she were the clergy guiding them in holy matrimony. Rydon smiled his brightest smile up to Melissa, who could only muster a half grin, half grimace.

"I, Rydon, do so solemnly swear in the sight of Mylee's grace, To take you, Melissa, as my lawfully wedded wife." Rydon began, his voice hard as the earth, but gentle as well as he conveyed sincerity to all present. "It is my oathsworn vow to you to be your champion in times of need, your shield to protect you from all harm, and your support when you feel overwhelmed."

"That was sweet, Rydon." His mother whispered softly, wiping at a tear that had come from her eye as she looked adoringly at her grown son. He turned and gave his mother a smile that exuded happiness.

All eyes turned to Melissa who at this point was sweating bullets. Being of the church of Mylee meant that any oath given was binding, whether in the sight of a priestess, or to their God. If she actually spoke her vows to him, they would be as good as married in her mind. She still had such high hopes of Louie being her champion that she turned to look to him for support, finding him sitting quietly with a slight grimace on his face.

Knowing what was asked of her, whether for placating the woman or not, Melissa opened her mouth.

"I object to this union!" The front door bust open, a blonde man with bright silver armor stormed in and pulled a surprised Melissa out of the hands of the smaller dress clad Rydon. "Melissa is to be my wife. We shall be wed in Ramliearth surrounded by our country's most beautiful toilet cockroach flowers in the House of my forbearers for all to see how happy we make each other!

"Conrad?!?" Melissa yelped as the blonde knight held Melissa tightly to his armored body.

"Don't worry, my darling." Conrad smiled down into her face. "I shall protect your virtue and innocence from this dirt midget and these ragamuffins."

"Excuse me, young man?" a tap could be heard from behind Conrad, who turned around to see no one. When the tapped repeated, only this time off his breastplate, Conrad bent down and looked at Rydon's mother. "I'm afraid I'll have to ask you to sit down, we're in the middle of a wedding."

"Didn't you hear me, old woman?" Conrad nearly shouted, spit flying from his lips. "I will not permit this---"

"The woman asked you to sit down." The barely whispered voice in Conrad's ear made him begin to sweat profusely as he turned his eyes to the side to the point of a dagger laid against his cheek. "We do not insult Der'guk in their house."

"Thank you, Homun." The old woman smiled brightly over the shoulder of Conrad to the deadly mercenary, who was looking fit to kill. "You are always so kind to me."

"Dreth mi droth, granna Der'guk." Homun tilted his head slightly to her as he tilted Conrad upward slowly and pivoted him around, walking him out the front door. "We need to talk." Homun spoke darkly as he closed the door behind him, a high shrill cry coming through the door and windows from the front of the house as Conrad gave out one last, prolonged shriek before silence reigned.

"Well, that was fun for a few seconds." Merrill was grinning, her eyes closed as she imagined the pain Homun was putting that idiot through.

"I don't envy him, but then again, I hope he gets everything he deserves." Genie was nodding next to Merrill, totally pleased with the current results.

"Well, I see that nothing shall come between you two." Rydon's mother was smiling happily as she left the assemblage, walking out of the room only to return with a cloak and a backpack with pickaxe fitted under the top flap. "I'd like to stay longer, but if the sky was any indication, I have to get going."

Everyone looked confused at each other, none more so than Rydon and Melissa. "Mother," Rydon began slowly, "when you said you didn't have much time left and that you would be leaving me soon, you weren't talking about dying, were you?"

Rydon's mother looked strangely at her son. "Earth below, of course I wasn't speaking about my mortality." The woman said as she gave her son a scornful look. "When I wrote you that letter, I was informing you that I would be leaving for awhile to return back to Undercity near the Draklor Mountains. Our family reunion is in the next few days, and I know I wouldn't be able to take you away from the village, so I was letting you know that I would be worried about you while I was gone."

The sound of a bird making a mocking call seemed to be heard from somewhere, though none there at the time being could tell you where from.

Rydon sighed his own worry at his imagination. "I should have known that was what it was about."

The door bust open with a bruised face of Conrad as he tried to crawl his way into the house. "Melissa, my love, help me…" He whined pitifully as a dark glove reached out from the shadows and grabbed hold of his collar, dragging him back out into the darkness beyond.

Melissa sighed at her bad fortunes, tears near coming to her eyes in joy. "This is totally against my will…"

* * *

Rydon decided to stay at his mother's place, promising that if Conrad ever appeared again that night, he would heal him and explain everything. He doubted he would see him as Homun had not appeared yet, but Mylee would protect the soft headed Conrad somehow.

Melissa walked between Genie and Merrill, depressed at what had actually happened and her added part in a deception that wasn't necessary in the least bit. Louie was walking behind all three of them, letting them have a consoling moment for the poor priestess.

"Cheer up, Melissa." Merrill lightly said as she patted the arm of her friend. "At least you didn't have to 'marry' dressed as a guy."

"I would be more concerned about not getting married in the first place." Genie said, shuddering slightly at the thought of marriage.

"I can't believe I almost helped out in a deception on that poor old lady." Melissa sighed again, wondering if Mylee liked watching her suffer. He must with all the anguish he's put her through.

"You did do it for the best of intentions. I think that at least shows you had your heart in the right place." Louie said as he walked behind them, Genie and Merrill turning to glance at Louie while Melissa seemed to relax a little at the advice.

"Hey Louie," Merrill said with a sly look on her face, "You're her champion, Why didn't you try and stop the wedding instead of that idiot Conrad?"

Louie looked taken back by the question, not expecting it. "Well, being her champion is one thing, but she has to live by what she thinks is important to her. A champion fights for what is right, and marriage isn't something that even a champion should break up."

"If you ask me, a champion is supposed to save people from bad things happening to them." Genie said as she glanced over at her friend. "Marrying Rydon, even if it was just for show, was definitely a bad thing."

"Louie is right, though." Melissa spoke up, not seeing that Louie was thinking maybe Genie was on to something. "I was doing what I thought was right, and maybe it was or wasn't the best thing I could have done, but mindlessly going off and breaking up a sacred union is definitely something a champion doesn't do."

"Not to change the fact that it may or may not have been the greatest idea, wearing the opposite clothes is definitely the wrong way to start off a marriage." Merrill said, letting her fashion sense speak volumes for them.

"It was a bit uncomfortable wearing those clothes." A teardrop stood out on Melissa's head at the mere thought of wearing that suit.

Louie watched them finally start talking about the weirdness of the entire thing, becoming more and more relaxed as they came in sight of the small hamlet of a village. In all honesty, Louie didn't know what he should think about Melissa nearly being married, whether it was true or not. He didn't know that it was all a charade at the time being, and watching her marry the dwarf had hurt somewhere inside of him.

Still, she didn't marry the dwarf, and yet there was something nagging at him as he watched them head back to their lodgings for the night.

* * *

**I'm still trying to decide if there should be some kind of attraction with the characters. Louie had one with Celecia, but it was one sided at the time, though she was starting to come around to the idea before leaving them to head home to Tartious Forest. It might be a bit weird for Merrill and Louie to have any interest in each other, but I'm sure I could find some way to work it. Genie and Louie is plausible, Mentor/Student kind of relation. Melissa and Louie was always hinted at via High Priestess Jenny, joking with the poor girl that to truly understand her champion, she would have to do almost anything, including sleep with him...**

**Thoughts for another day, I guess...**


	17. Chapter 16

**I have returned once again to layeth the smacketh down on this story by busting out another chapter. I can get them written it seems fairly quickly (this one was written in a night) when the mood strikes me, though I'm still wondering if I should do anything romantic or at least start getting some love going.**

**Disclaimer: the company that owns the rights to Rune Soldier does not pay, acknowledge, nor have they given their permission for this person to write a sequel to their series. He acknowledges that he may not earn anything from said writings except criticism, to which any criticism is good criticism.**

* * *

Caraway hacked into the dead corpse of another hobgoblin as he tried to vent away his frustrations. The creature had fought decently for a moment, learning the fighting styles of a swordsman from Caraway quicker than the others. It didn't get its feral rage under control, however, and he was forced to dispatch what would have been a promising foot soldier.

Xoldir walked into the room in that soft footed way of his kind, the arts of assassination screaming defiantly from his taut form. A vibrating trap waiting to be sprung would be close to the impression that he gave off of himself. His eyes peered over the facial mask that covered his mouth and nose, his white eyes seemingly blind except that his shoulders were squared off to the mercenary hacking away at the body in vexation.

"Another student gone bad?" Xoldir's voice hissed, his voice rasping and soft. Caraway looked over his shoulder, unconcerned to expose his back to the half breed elf.

"These beasts aren't worth the time training." Caraway said as he hauled back and kicked the corpse, bones breaking inside of what was left of the hobgoblin echoing through the room. "Why do I have to train these things, anyways?"

"My arts are not meant for the foul hands of beastmen." Xoldir narrowed his eyes and the mask quirked where his mouth would be located. "A beast parading around as a man is far more effective a teaching aid than someone who isn't."

Caraway dropped the sword from his hand and snapped his wrist toward Xoldir, the flash of metal leaving the hand and whistling its way toward his face. Xoldir never dropped the smirk hidden behind his mask as he caught the blade by the handle and batted a second one down out of the air. Caraway grimaced at the failed attack, sure that the dagger hidden in the blind spot behind the other had been perfectly hidden from sight.

"I came down here for a reason." Xoldir dropped the dagger in his hand to land next to the one most recently batted down.

Caraway turned away from him. "Hurry it up then, and keep it simple. Us _beasts_ have lessons yet to learn."

"You'll be needed to teach them all the time." Caraway bristled at the reminder. "I was asked to see what kind of … company … you would like to have."

Caraway visibly relaxed and grinned animal like over his shoulder at the assassin. "You know my type."

Xoldir sneered at the mercenary. He turned away from him and headed back up the stairs, expecting nothing less but the perverse answer he received. He did indeed know the type of _company_ the mercenary enjoyed.

Caraway turned back and directed two goblins to come and clean up what was left of the hobgoblin and the floor. Smiling with a sickeningly sweet grin, he could just imagine how he would be making her scream. He loved it when they started screaming…

* * *

Merrill had just finished delivering the last parcel through town, the bakery giving her a good portion of the pay she deserved and a few loaves left over of some of the sweet bread they sold to the rest of town. Clinking the money in her hand as she walked back to Rydon's place. She had to make sure she put her money with her stash, the secret secret one that even her friends didn't know about.

She was thinking about breaking down and buying a jar for her money, but that would be too much like moving away from Ohfun and her 'darling' jar there. She would bring back her gains to her one true love and bury off someplace far, far away from Louie. The last time he had tried helping her out his stupid mud golem had taken her jar and all the money she had earned to date with her into a bottomless hot spring.

Granted, the bumbling mage had been trying to help her, but there was no way in hell she was going to part from her money ever again.

She worried a little that some thief other than herself had found her 'darling' by now, but she knew that she had hidden it so good, there was no one in all of Ohfun who would be able to find it. She giggled into her hand as she imagined the confused look on their faces as they ransacked the run down building she owned on the outskirts of town.

"Hey, Merrill. You look like you're having fun." Merrill clutched reflexively around her money pouch and shot a death glare toward the voice only relaxing when she saw that Celecia had spoken to her.

"Hey Celecia. I just got done making more money and I'm heading back to my room." Actually, she wasn't going to her room, but a deception was better than outright lying.

"You certainly work hard for your money." Celecia said with a light smile as she walked in step next to the short thief. "What are you going to do with all that money once you get home?"

"I'm going to save it." Merrill said, talking about the one thing that truly made her happy.

"To save it?" Celecia looked down at the smiling face of Merrill, who was oblivious to the unsure stare.

"Of course." Merrill spoke happily as she imagined the coins she would one day bathe in. She had felt that exactly one time where the metal coins had been against her naked flesh, but she had been so weirded out over being mistaken for someone who looked exactly like her that she didn't get to properly enjoy it like she wanted to.

"Then why make money in the first place?" Celecia asked her, wondering what the purpose of money was if not to spend it. Maybe it was for peace of mind?

"That almost sounds a lot like what Louie asked me a long time ago." Merrill's mood darkened slightly at the remembrance of her last hoard of money.

"Oh, I'm sorry if I offended you." Celecia waved a hand dismissively in front of herself. "It's just that I've never seen a human before covet money as you do without spending it."

"Some weirdoes don't know how good they got it till it's gone." Merrill would never understand why people spent all that glittering goodness for trinkets and baubles.

* * *

Louie sat amongst the seats in the chapel area where the villagers could come and worship, or listen to Rydon extol the virtues of Mylee to the children on the weekends. He stared at the monolith that represented the God of War for a long time, forgetting when he had come in or even why he had come here. Maybe it was because he was trying to reason how Mylee would deign to direct Melissa and her friends into his life.

He shuddered at the remembrance, trying to use his magick that day to get Merrill and Genie off his back so he could talk to Melissa and apologize for his behavior the previous night at the tavern where he had first seen them, only to have his spell backfire and blow up the section of the roof he had been standing on and dropping him into the meditation chambers where Melissa had been getting her divine guidance directly from Mylee himself.

They had many adventures after that, most ending in unexpected ways, and he had learned a lot from the women he later on called friends. Still, Mylee had directed Melissa to him and told her to follow him as he was to be her champion. He sighed darkly, his mood one of deep depression.

He wasn't a champion, that was the simple truth of it. If anything, he wasn't much of anything, except a brawler. Fist fights and drinking and carousing in taverns had been about the only things he couldn't screw up, which wasn't anything to be proud about in the least. Since his defeat to Homun, he had been attempting to get better at his magick and even devote some more time to being a better swordsman.

He didn't know the first thing about being a champion, though. True, it seemed throughout history that champions brought down the bad guys, defeated dragons, and generally got the girl at the end of their journeys. He felt he'd be lucky if he would have the respect of any of his adventuring friends at the end of this particular adventure.

Standing up from the seat, he walked to the aisle and eventually to the monolith that set upon its stone pedestal. He knelt down before it, clasping his hands together and spoke softly to the representation of God. "Mylee, I can't say I believe much of what they say about you." He had never prayed before in his life, and already he felt he was pissing off this God before him. "Ever since becoming your chosen's destined 'hero', I've felt that I would become what she has always hoped I would eventually be by Your guidance."

This is where he always faltered when trying to plan out what he would pray next. How do you tell God he's wrong? "I don't doubt that she believes in you as she does no other, but I feel that I am inadequate for the faith she puts in me." Well, maybe God isn't wrong, and maybe it's just him? "I won't ask you to reconsider your decision, but I do ask of you to give her someone more deserving of being a champion. She deserves better…"

He trailed off, unsure of how you finish a prayer to a God or even if there's some hand motion involved that ended such communications to Deities. Sighing and feeling foolish at the same time, he stood up and turned around, walking out the main door of the chapel. Had Louie looked around before leaving, he would have seen Melissa coming out of the cloister, her face gazing worriedly after her champion.

"Was someone out there?" Rydon's voice called her back out of her contemplation. She turned around to assist him in preparing for service later on that night.

"Louie was doing something I'd never seen him do before." Rydon's eyebrow perked at her but she didn't see it, nor did she notice that her voice was slightly off.

"Is it something important?" Rydon was continuing to watch her face, his hands moving on their own as they continued to prepare for tonight's service.

"I…" How should she answer that? "It's just strange to see Louie act the way he does now, I suppose." She shook herself mentally as she became more vigorous in her work. "I met him a long time ago when he was still mentally immature, and at the time being I was very untrusting of our God's prediction that Louie would become a true champion that I would follow one day."

"I got to know him as a person and even consider him a true friend that I would hate to lose, but he hasn't quite gotten the 'champion' quality down yet. He was so close when we stopped Dardanel in Ohfun." Melissa's hands stilled as she went back over Louie's prayer in her head. "It's hard to watch him doubt himself. He's lost his focus and now I wonder if maybe I pressured him too much all those times?"

"You trained under Priestess Jenny, didn't you?" Rydon watched as a blush seemed to creep into Melissa's surprised face as her hands leapt to their work before her. "From the way your face is turning, I assume she advised you to sleep with him." Rydon chuckled as her face turned a deeper red than before.

Deciding not to embarrass the poor priestess anymore, Rydon tried another path. "A priestess given a divine oracle to follow someone as their champion is not something to take lightly, and I think you understand that. You've seemed to have spent much time with him and know him as a person." Melissa looked up at him from what she was doing, wondering where he was going. "Have you ever wondered why he is what he is now?"

Melissa looked confused for a moment. "You mean when he is over excited and constantly challenging each day with bringing him new adventures?"

Rydon shook his head. "You know that side of him already, or you wouldn't have talked about it in such detail. I mean when he is depressed like he is now, wondering what it is that he can do not for himself, but for those he's bringing down around him."

"But he's not…" Rydon raised his hand before her, forestalling the obvious track of her mind.

"Answer first before defending him." He wasn't ordering her, but softly guiding her like a father would. She needed to see for herself that she only knew half the person before herself. "From the look of your face, it's obvious that this is something new to him and to you as well."

She had to admit that a depressed Louie was hard to watch. He was always so happy all the time, even when things looked bad for all of them, but he had never been depressed about anything.

Taking the last few things she had to finish up to help him out, Rydon said. "Go on and find him. I can easily finish up what's left. It's obvious that you two need to talk, person to person."

Nodding, unsure yet as to what she would say to him, she turned and walked out into the chapel area and after Louie.

* * *

She found Louie shortly afterwards out back in the grove. He had his sword out and was going through the various stances and attacks that Genie constantly drilled into him. His face had that determined set to it as he slashed at the imaginary target in front of him, intending on at least getting one move out of hundreds down so that he wouldn't get berated again.

Melissa was about to call out to him, except that his face was the epitome of concentration. Even if she called out to him, she doubted that he'd hear her, his focus so hard on what he was doing and not what was around him. This was the Louie she knew so well, the one that got back up after getting kicked down and told to stay there, the one that was her champion.

Something about what he was doing distracted her to silence as she watched his arms working the sword back and forth in its constant motion. She couldn't place whether it was the simply rhythmic motion of his body or the look of his face as he went about his training. It could have been his presence as well, the way he was holding himself with authority and most of all confidence.

It was only when he released his hand from the hilt of the sword and let it slip to his side did his shoulders slump and his brow furrow. That same look of self defeat sprung up on his face and something clutched her heart in a cold grip that made her finally remember what she came out here for.

"You're pushing yourself." Melissa spoke up and watched as Louie slightly hitched, realizing that he wasn't as alone as he thought he was.

"Melissa, how long have you been there?" Louie turned to her as he sheathed his weapon at his hip.

How long have I been here watching him? "You don't have to push yourself so hard, Louie." She stepped toward him, cutting the distance between them by half as she continued to approach him. "We're here to help each other, aren't we?"

Louie grimaced as if he'd been struck. "There's a difference between help and always helping." His voice was laced with self loathing as his shoulders slumped more. "I think I've only recently realized how much of a burden I've been to all of you for so long now."

"Oh, Louie." Melissa said softly as she looked up into his wounded face, the hurt obvious to any who watched him. "What makes you think you've been anything but helpful?"

"I don't know." Louie scratched the back of his head as he thought. "It just feels like I've been useless since hauling everyone into this whole mess." He sighed openly as his chin rested on his chest. "I never should have accepted King Rijarl's request to come looking for Dardanel."

"You shouldn't think that, Louie." Melissa clenched her hands in front of her, a hard look coming into her eyes as she gazed up at Louie. "We were probably the best people for the job, since we had dealt with the man before. Anyone else may not have gotten as far as we have."

"That may be true, but they definitely would have been at least better off with a competent partner watching their back instead of me." He was starting to sound like a fool, yet he couldn't stop himself. "I mean, come on Melissa, you've all said it before. Even Ila would have been more helpful than me."

"Stop it, Louie!" She was getting irritated at him. "You shouldn't say something like that…"

"But it's the truth, Melissa!" Louie frustrations were finally coming to a head. "My skills in magick are so under developed, I'm more a hindrance than I am helpful. Hell, when we fell into that catacombs when you were taking those students with you on their first ever field exam, I had to use my fists to protect us!"

She remembered that, him fighting off the undead with his fists instead of being able to cast a fire spell to burn their dried bodies to ashes. He had even tried to cast a sleep spell on them, which any half trained conjurer would have known that the undead are not affected by mind magicks.

"What's it going to take to prove to you that I'm too weak to be useful, Melissa?" Louie was totally off on a rant by now, and Melissa was twitching ever so slightly, trying to resist the urge to slap some sense into him. "Is it going to take one of us getting hurt to prove it? A severed arm, a hamstrung leg? Huh? How about death, Melissa? What if one of us died because I failed at being useful?"

The slap jarred his jaw, making it feel like she had punched him instead of leaving the mark of her hand on his face. All conversation had been cut off between them, Melissa panting in anger and Louie unable to string two words together until they stopped ricocheting in his head. It was a moment until Melissa could compose herself before she broke the sudden silence.

"Louie, I'm only going to say this once for your benefit, so make sure you hear me very clearly on this." She was attempting to control her emotions, though she wanted to yell in his face. She thought she was doing fairly well, with only the occasional word slightly wavering when she spoke it. "You have not now, nor ever been, useless to any of us. You put your body on the line for all of us more times than I can imagine, something a trained wizard would be unable to do."

"Do not think for a second that you have the right to think of yourself as useless, cause we depend on you more than you would ever accept. Mylee chose you for a reason and I believe whole heartedly that he sent you to all of us, not just me, to be there when we needed someone the most to be not only our support, but our friend." Melissa felt water leaking out from her eyes, but she dared not stop long enough to wipe away the tears.

"I will not ever accept the idea that you are weak, or useless, no matter how badly you talk down at yourself. I know better, Genie knows better, and I know for a fact that Merrill knows better." She sighed as she wound down, her anger and frustrations finally spent. "I just wish I could show you how necessary you are to all of us, Louie."

"Is this a bad time, or should I leave you two love birds alone?" Homun stood against the arch of the doorway, his arms crossed over his chest as he watched the last bits of their 'conversation' winding down.

"Homun?!?" Melissa nearly leapt in the air and spun herself inside out in surprise. "Is something the matter?" He seems to be a portend for ill tidings of late, especially when he approached in stealth.

"There's trouble." Homun said as he stood up away from the frame of the door and uncrossed his arms. "You're needed."

"Has Genie and Merrill been called yet?" Melissa smoothed her clothes out as Louie and her walked toward the open doorway Homun had disappeared into.

"Genie's here, but Merrill's a different story." Something in his voice sent shivers down Melissa's back in dread, and for good reason. "She's been kidnapped."

* * *

**Caraway: Now that's what I call a fiery little lolita. I think I'm in love...**

**Merrill: Who are you calling a Lolita, you pervert?! I happen to be legal and willing!**

**G.B.: How willing is it when you're hog tied up and wriggling like a worm on the ground?**

**Merrill: I like role playing as much as the next person. Why do you think I wear this micro mini everywhere I go?**

**G.B.: You need help, therapy would be a good start. Once done there, I'll see if I can dig you up some real male attention, cause you obviously need some...**


	18. Chapter 17

**This chapter was delayed a little bit, but I got it finished. I'm going to start getting things accomplished pretty soon with this, might tie it up or let it go on a bit longer depending on how I feel.**

**Disclaimer: Rune Soldier is owned by someone other than me. My name isn't Someone other than me, so Nyah (sticks his tongue out at you all)**

**G.B.: Rednecks of the world, Unite! I couldn't sound anymore hick than saying you all hundreds of times a day.**

**Homun: Redneck?**

**G.B.: I could explain that, but then it would get mean trying to explain something as complicated as the classification 'Redneck'. Suffice it to say, it's not a nice thing. Hell, I can't even spell derogatory without spell check...**

* * *

Celecia was sitting in one of Rydon's chairs when Melissa and Louie walked in, Homun already reaching the room and leaning just inside the doorway against the wall. Rydon was consoling the shaky elf while Genie glared in a worried fashion to herself. At Melissa's approach, Genie turned toward the two arrivals and spoke to them.

"They were on their way back here when they were attacked by someone." Genie spoke quietly, her voice carrying while Rydon soothed Celecia some more. "She thinks it was a dark elf, except the coloring was wrong."

"It was definitely an elf." Rydon said as he eyed the cut sleeve in his hands. No loose stitching, just a perfect cut from wrist to elbow. "No half breeds except the ones in the guards are as well trained in combat as this one must have been. He didn't even cut flesh when he struck, but he did manage to keep her sword arm away from her weapon."

"He attacked Merrill first." Celecia said with a shudder. "Struck her from behind and knocked her out with the butt of his short sword. When he forced me far enough away from her, he kicked my in the stomach and knocked the wind out of me."

"An assassin." Homun spoke softly in a considering manner.

"Do you think she'll be o.k.?" Louie asked, worried for the health of his captured friend.

"Not if we don't find her before they do whatever to her." Homun stood up from the wall, his fingers already in the process of tracing runes into the backs of his hands.

"So, how do we find her?" Genie said as Celecia stood up, Rydon turning to look at the mercenary.

"We ask the wind for guidance." Homun smiled with a wolfish grin.

* * *

Outside of the village, Homun stood apart from the group of travelers and Rydon who had decided to come along with them. The green sylph that had previous bother Homun so much before was looking curiously down at a pouch that belonged to the thief.

Unsure as to why Homun was holding Merrill's money pouch as the important question, "Exactly, what is he doing anyways?"

"He's using sylph as a guide, letting it gain a feel for Merrill so that it will track her down for us." Celecia spoke, though she was focused on watching Homun and the air spirit with a furrowed brow.

For a moment, the spirit seemed to hover over the pouch as if it was unsure as to what it was to do. Glowing a hazy green, it began to shine a bright light around it and with a flash, it took off toward the woods in the distance. Homun put the pouch on his belt and took off after the light, though he walked instead of ran after it.

"That's amazing." Louie said as everyone took up the unspoken sign and followed after Homun.

Celecia didn't speak what her mind was telling her, but the look she was giving the back of Homun could have held him in place as she stared hard into him.

* * *

"I brought her, just like you asked." Xoldir stood at the stairway back up to the upper levels while Caraway trained a set of Hobgoblins with their shortswords.

"Is she cute?" Caraway gave a sickening smile, which only made Xoldir grimace.

"I don't share your tastes." He said as he turned away and walked back up the stairs, his business concluded.

"Feh." Caraway spoke rudely after Xoldir as his footsteps faded away upstairs. The hobgoblins had progressed from their studies from using rigid slashes and too wide thrusts to using closer, quicker pricking motions meant to step in and close the distance to stab. They could be left alone for a few hours. After all, the test of good fighters were to leave them alone and who was left alive when he came back.

Sheathing his weapon, Caraway stepped away from them, heading up the stairs toward his captured prize. He whistled as his mood rised, finally getting away to vent some anger on the poor girl the assassin had managed to find for him. She wouldn't be exactly the way Caraway liked them, just someone convenient for Xoldir to snatch away from her family and bring her to him. Too bad for her, he tended to be a little too rough on them, they usually never talked after he was done with them.

He could hear the restrained voice of the girl, and his heart started to pump a little faster at the sound of her struggling. Walking into the room from below, he looked down at the brunette girl dressed in light blue vest and skirt. He thought there was something about her that was supposed to be familiar, but it didn't matter as his eyes ate her up hungrily.

She had been gagged, which made her a bit more compliant, and at least saved her from killing her immediately. He didn't want to hear her talk…not yet anyways. Hands tied behind her back and ankles tied together were always done tight and professional, the mixed breed elf never gave anyone a chance to escape. Her legs would part slightly at the knees and he'd get a scant look up those young thighs under her skirt, and his eyes lit up with his hunger.

He walked over to her, no longer whistling as he crouched over her head and tried to stroke her head. Her head jerked from side to side until he took a handful of her hair in his hand and pulled her head toward him, bending her neck in an awkward angle that made her moan in pain. She was feisty, they weren't always feisty, he liked her even more.

"You're probably wondering why you were captured and brought here." Caraway said as he released her hair and stared into her eyes. They stared defiantly up at him, daring him to try something. "If you think we kidnapped you for money, you're mistaken." He ran his hands over her vest, feeling her jerk under his hand again as she tried to get away from him.

"I'm afraid you're here for something worse than kidnapping." He was trying to be kind to her, but even to his own ears it sounded like he was enjoying her suffering. He'd be a liar if he wasn't. "So young, so innocent." His hand passed over her side and across her thigh, goosebumps sprung into existence on her exposed skin as her eyes glared hatred at him. "I'm going to enjoy this. Maybe you'll learn to as well, but I hope you fight."

* * *

"Are you sure we're going the right way?" Louie asked again as he walked behind Homun, stepping around brush and roots alike as he tried to keep up with the mercenary.

Homun didn't acknowledge him and didn't change his gaze as he continued forward at a steady march, forcing anyone behind him to either follow in his footsteps or jog after him if they went around what he walked over. The pixie had long ago gone out of sight from them, but Homun never stopped moving or gazed around trying to figure out where he was to head next.

Louie grimaced, worrying for his thief friend and for the fact that they seemed totally lost. Melissa also looked concerned and was nibbling at her lip, the only thing she could do as they continued to trek after Homun. Genie had removed her cloak some time ago, keeping her weapons from snagging on underbrush and limbs alike as she proceeded behind Melissa.

The only ones who seemed to be doing better than most were Celecia and Rydon. The elf seemed to pass through nature as if it was not there, the foliage not ensnaring her as it would anyone else. The dwarf was the complete opposite. The bushes and shrubs clawed and gripped at Rydon as he passed through them, yet he paid them no attention whatsoever as he passed, his patience as firm as the earth they walked across.

"We're getting closer, it stopped moving." Homun spoke finally, bringing everyone's heads up and out of their own dark thoughts as he sped up, moving to a trot.

As if the acknowledgement of their hopes had spurred them on, they picked their paces up, now passing directly behind Homun so as not to lose him. Branches broke as legs brushed roughly against them while limbs snapped from a hard push of a hand. It couldn't have been too long as they came into a clearing where a ruined stone house had stood, the markings of fire on the stone walls the testament to the destruction of something so grand.

Homun didn't give it a second glance as he walked around the side of it to where the glowing green light of the sylph floated in circles over a particular piece of caved in wall. Once Homun walked over to it, it motioned happily in a cheer before flying over and hugging the side of his head. Homun ignored the thing as it kissed his cheek once before alighting onto his shoulder and watching what he was doing.

"This wall has a magickal residue on it." Homun spoke lightly, pointing directly before him to the collapsed wall.

"Is it a doorway?" Genie asked as she came over, refastening her cloak to her shoulders.

"Louie, we need your help." Melissa called to him, drawing him over to her as Rydon and Celecia came behind him.

"It could be a trap as well." Genie looked at Homun with skepticism. "Remember who we're dealing with." He continued, receiving a nod from her.

"Should I open it?" Louie looked at Homun, who just stares at the rocks.

"I'd better." Homun said as he raised his left hand to the rocks before him. "Be ready for anything."

Genie pulled the sword at her hip out and held it in front of herself, Melissa took out and assembled her pole axe like weapon, in case she would need it. Louie and Celecia readied their weapons while Rydon gripped the handle of his great war hammer in both hands. Homun chanted softly, his voice rising carefully as he commanded the magick through him and to the spell that may have been blocking the entrance to the passageway they needed to travel.

Instead of opening a path, the whole rock wall shifted and eyes opened on it, glaring at Homun in a most hungry fashion. Pieces of the rock opened up to show off razor like teeth and it shambled forward, trying to bite off the arm of Homun. Genie and Rydon moved first, more practiced to combat then Melissa and Louie. Rydon's hammer and Genie's sword strike at the face of the rock thing only to bounce off to no effect.

Homun pulls his arm back and hops backwards as the thing bites down where he previously stood at. Louie and Melissa also try to distract the creatures one mindedness as it rushes after Homun. The sylph that was previously on Homun's shoulder began to fly around the eyes of the thing as Homun pulled out his weapon from under his cloak, the sword that the elves had given him.

"Get out of here. I can handle this Homunculi." With a quick motion of his arms, the sword bit into the rocky exterior of the creature. It screamed a high squeal as a bit of its hide fell to the ground at its feet and Homun swung again, taking another piece of its skin away with his slice.

Genie and Rydon stepped into the darkness that the thing had vacated, stairs that seemed to lead down toward the cellar of the house when it had been there. Louie took one last look over his shoulder at Homun dancing in close proximity of the creature as he cut into it once again before rushing down after everyone.

At the bottom of the stairs, Louie could see that the room was empty of life, though the floor had a thick covering of dust on it. Only a few footprints could be seen clearly as they headed off and underneath a wall nearby. Tracking the feet as best as they could through the gloom, they headed to the wall and pushed on it, testing to see if it would open as if it were a panel.

The wall slid back and into a larger room, one that held a smell that was oddly familiar and rank as well. Louie placed it with a smell he'd first come across on his first adventure, but he couldn't quite place why he'd think that.

"Be prepared." Rydon took the lead as he walked into the room. "This place smells of beastmen."

Louie stepped behind Rydon, Melissa follow close on his heels while Genie took the rear position. Should it come to running, it would be her duty to protect them long enough to allow them to get away. Rydon would keep them alive, at least, Genie hoped they'd find another way out.

As they came near the center of the room, the light behind them disappeared with a resounding thud as the wall slid back into place. No handgrip could be seen from where they stood, so retreat was out of the question. If that wasn't bad enough, more grinding sounds could be heard around them as sections of wall opened one at a time, glowing yellow eyes leering from the darkness within.

Louie remembered what that smell was now, remembering him opening a doorway into a den of the same creatures. Goblins.

Squat, green creatures came out of their pens, each clutching a crude club made from wood or of stone, some even baring small knives or jagged pieces of bone as weapons. They were surrounded on all sides except for the stairwell ahead of them that lead downwards. Genie didn't hesitate in her decision.

"Run!" she said as she shoved Melissa's shoulder from behind. Rydon moved them to the strais and took up a stance to the right as Louie and Melissa barreled down the steps. Genie took up a spot to the left of the stairs and parried back a few attacks at her and Rydon while cleaving the little monsters that were fighting against her so hard.

"This doesn't look so good for us." Rydon commented as he swung his war hammer hard into a few goblins that tried to rush him after a swing.

"We have to buy them some time." Genie said, knowing that there was way too many goblins to fight off with just the two of them. Hopefully, they'd find Merrill and get her out before they fell.

* * *

Homun danced away from the mouth of the creature again, evading death with the grace of a ballet dancer. The weapon reached out with his direction and took another piece of it off, eliciting another shriek of pain before it charged blindly at him again. Homun could do this all day, but there may have been problems underground and he was probably going to be needed.

Something green jumped onto the back of the creature and with a sliver strike downward, pierced an open spot on the body of the Homunculi, making it screech and dance in place as it tried to shake off the pain. Homun stopped long enough to register that the elf girl, Celecia, had stabbed into the monster one last time before she jumped off and to the side.

"I thought I told you to go with them!" Homun was pissed as the creature turned in place to try to find what had hurt it so badly.

"You may be an efficient killer, but fighting by yourself is suicidal." Celecia jumped once again, bounding off of it and landing behind it as it turned away from where it had just been looking.

Homun ground his teeth. His anger building inside of him, he slashed downward violently into the leg of the monster as it continued to spin around him. It jerked hard, pulling its injured leg back and spinning toward him, mouth open to impale him on its teeth. Jumping through it's open mouth and slashing upward as he passed, he landed as the monster snapped its mouth shut only to have it's upper mouth break off from the force of the bite. Green blood sprayed into the air from the slash wound that had cut clean through it.

He back flipped, his feet touching the upper mouth as it bounced upward and away from the damaged mouth before falling to the earth but he had already leapt from it. Pushing off of it at it's highest point, he jumped upward even higher as he turned in mid air, picking up more rotation as continued to spin backwards in the air. Turning the blade in his hands, he laid the blade on the inside of his legs until the last minute as he fell toward the monster.

He pulled upward as hard as he could moments before landing, the upward slash added to his spinning making the blade move faster than even his arm would have managed. The thing tried to shriek again as the blade passed through it only to have its head fall off and roll ungainly while the body continued to dance in agony, knocking over the head and upper jaw in its rampaging.

He flicked his blade to one side, cleaning it of the gore it had accumulated through its last passing and the spurt of ichor from the wound before sheathing it up and under his cloak. The body shuddered in the last of its death throes before the legs buckled and twitched spasmodically.

"THAT," Homun shouted at her, taking a deep breath before he continued, "was why I told you to go after them."

"Still good at killing our kind, aren't you, Homun?" He reflexively reached for his sword under his cloak as he turned toward the hole in the ground where the monster had been positioned. Lyssa stood in front of it with her hand resting on her rapier, staring at him with her all too hard gaze.

"You could have killed it without using your weapon." Homun told her, knowing full well that he could have as well.

"You're friends are in trouble." Lyssa confirmed for Homun, whose eyes narrowed. "It was too obvious not to be a trap, and you sent them in anyways."

Celecia stared at Homun to Lyssa and back, watching them interact with one another. She didn't understand why Lyssa would say 'their' kind. She would have to ask later.

"Are you going to stop me from going in after them?" Homun had not pulled the sword back out yet, but then again, neither had Lyssa.

"Join me, Homun." Celecia looked shocked at Lyssa. Her voice had taken on an edge of desperation that she'd never heard from Homun's. "Let us be together again, the way we were so very long ago. The way that They did not want us to be together."

Homun took his hand away from his weapon and walked toward Lyssa. He stopped just long enough to look her in the face and caress her cheek with his hand before he walked past her and down into the basement. Lyssa had a sad look on her face, one that spoke of longing before her face lost all emotion and she simply walked off, away from the entrance.

Waiting to see if anyone else would try to come after them, or if others would try to seal them inside, Celecia maintained her place nearby, finding a spot to hide and keep the stairs in sight. She wondered as to what Lyssa and Homun were to each other. She would have to ask when they came back.

* * *

**Wow, Lyssa showing emotion. Someone call that world record place and tell them it happened. Y'know, the place that sounds like the beer.**

**I told you that Caraway was a freak and a perv, hands all over Merrill in the perverse way of perverts being pervy and such... (this is almost as bad as that you all comment earlier)**

**Rydon and Genie seperated from Melissa and Louie, will the mage and priestess make it in time to save Merrill's chastisy and, more importantly, her life? or are they already too late?**


	19. Chapter 18

**I don't like how the last of this story ended, it felt rushed a bit. Just so's you know I posted this not too happy with the ending, but I was trying to keep this fairly short, nothing over 4000+**

**Disclaimer: Rune Soldier still won't accept my application, so I guess I can't say that this is a part of the Rune Soldier franchise. I can say this was my idea and I did not get permission to use it, though.**

**WARNING: Graphic Violence is heavy in this chapter, it's rated M for a reasons, folks. If you can't handle gore and mutilation, please use those little sick bags airplanes have on hand. (I don't own those either)**

* * *

The sounds of fighting followed them down the stairs, yet Louie kept going. He knew that Genie and Rydon could handle themselves, he only hoped he could do the same. Melissa followed closely behind him, only looking up and behind them at the passageway leading back up to their friends, but didn't try to persuade Louie about turning back and helping them out. She knew that they were probably going to be the only thing that would save Merrill, if she was here at all.

The stairs took a sudden turn to the left and emptied out into another room with another obvious passageway leading upward this time on the other side of the room. Unfortunately, they walked into the path of three Hobgoblins as they were making their way toward the stairs they had just descended. Each of these creatures had short swords that looked fairly new and they each made a random slashing motion as they spread out to either side of each other.

"Great, as if we didn't have enough trouble." Louie pulled out his sword and held it before him while he tried to keep Melissa behind him in the stairwell.

"Louie," Melissa was pushing him from behind, trying to get him to move, "I can help as well."

The left creature came at him first, barely making it a few steps before Louie slashed to his side and batted the tip of the short sword into the wall. He didn't have time to follow up the block as the center and right beastmen attacked as Louie parried the first. He had just enough time to drive the center thrust toward the right one, blocking its slash with it's allies own weapon before the hobgoblin on his left tried another thrust, this time from much closer.

Melissa's pole arm shot out from around Louie's side, checking the creature up short as it struck it in the chest roughly. Louie had enough time to punch it in the face before the center one tried to slash back at him again. Gritting his teeth, he slid his weapon down along the edge, forcing the weapon to slow while using its own angle to guide his attack as he stopped pressing against the weapon and let its own strike carry his weapon into the hobgoblin. It yipped once in pain as its chest was lightly grazed by the sword tip and back handed its friend, accidentally catching it fully in the face.

Either in anger, or frustrated at being stymied by his partner, the right one turned his weapon on the wounded hobgoblin and drove it through its back. The sudden pierce from behind caught the beastman unprepared, and in shock, it gripped at the weapon as it slumped forward. The backstabber had time enough to try and wrench the weapon out of the body before Louie thrust into its chest where a human's heart would be at. It squealed once and shortly before crumpling to the ground.

The left one waited for the overextension of Louie's thrust and moving out of the way of Melissa's thrusting pole arm, got in close to Louie, swinging upward from the ground in a hard clubbing upward slash. Louie flinched as the weapon hit him, but pulled his sword out and slashed hard to his left, catching the upraised arms and throat of the beast. It tried to gasp in surprise that it's attack had not damaged Louie as badly as it had been trained before it fell back onto the ground and clawed at its ripped open throat.

Walking past the fallen corpses, Louie finally made room for Melissa, who tried looking him over. He brushed her off time and again, finally batting her hands away rougher than necessary as he gave her an irritated look. "I'm fine, ok? We have to keep going."

"You are not o.k. I saw that thing hit you." Melissa said as she looked with a vexed stare at the mage.

"Flat of the blade." Louie said as he kept his weapon out, this time being well prepared for anything that would be ahead of them.

Melissa didn't believe him for a second, but because he had started walking through the room and up the next set of steps. She made her way after him, more and more concerned about his mental state until they came to the next floor, where she tried to restrain a gasp of shock.

Merrill laid against the wall to the far side of the room, her clothes ripped to tatters on her and her face starting to swell from the bruises that were beginning to rise in sharp contrast to the rest of her. Her hands had been bound behind her back and her feet tied together so that she couldn't fight back, yet she had been brutalized beyond sanity's sake. Strips of cloth were tossed all around her, even a few rivulets of blood from where the skin had been nicked by the passing of a blade.

Melissa pushed past the stunned Louie and rushed over to her, kneeling down next to her as she passed a hand over her face. Merrill reacted instinctively, believing she was going to be struck again, only to feel a gentle touch examining her body. She began praying to her God for the benevolence of a healing spell to wipe away her hurts, devoting her focus intently on the earnest wish to heal as her God answered her and gave her the power to cleanse and heal the hurts done to the diminutive thief.

The swelling started to fade from Merrill's face and the coloring change back to the healthy complexion she normally had, though her eyes still crinkled in pain. Cooing to her poor friend, she fumbled at the tight knots in the ropes before she could loosen them enough to free Merrill's hands. She turned over on her side and curled up into Melissa's lap, wrapping her arms around her waist as she buried her face into her lap. Merrill sobbed lightly, barely having the strength to move as relief passed through her.

"Sshhh, it's alright, Merrill." She stroked her hair out as she tried to comfort her. "We're here to get you out of here."

"He…" Merrill hiccupped as she sucked breath in through her parched lips, "He hurt me, Melissa." Merrill shivered spasmodically as Merrill relived the events of an hour ago.

Booted feet running out of the room made Merrill cringe in fear and pull tightly up against Melissa. Melissa looked up, concerned as to who was coming only to realize the feet had been running out of the room, up the only other way out. Louie had obviously seen too much and ran onwards, looking for the man who did this to her. Unable to console Merrill and follow, she hoped Louie would be alright by himself.

* * *

Louie charged through passageways, tearing through doors as if they weren't there. He ran as hard and as long as he could, pushing himself further and further along the catacombs of hallways and stairwells that seemed to make the earth into a honeycomb of a maze. He had to be somewhere still in this place, somewhere in this warren. If God believed in balances, then he'd find the man somewhere in here.

As he rushed around a corner, an arrow took him in the arm, making him drop his sword in shock as the bolt passed through the meat and out the other side. He hissed in pain as he wrapped his hand reflexively on the wound, ducking and rolling to the side as a second arrow bounced off the rocks where his head had been just a moment ago.

"Damn, you fools are persistent." The voice of the man who had attacked Genie and him only yesterday called to him down the hallway. "You think you'd have gotten the message that you needed to leave town and never come back." A third bolt careened off the rock by Louie's head at the corner, splintering into wooden shards as he tried to reach for his weapon left in the middle of the open hallway.

"You're the one that hurt Merrill, aren't you?" Louie yelled out from where he was. He was trying to stall for time, wondering what he was going to do next.

"You mean the girl they brought me?" the man called from down the hall. "I always did have a thing for the young ones. They look so innocent and can scream forever…" Rage built up in Louie, bolstering his wounds as he listened to the man gloat. "I did rough her up a bit around the edges, but it was so worth it when she confided in me her little secrets." His hands gripped tightly in frustration and anger as he continued. "Then I got the pleasure of peeling her back like an onion. I'm no great skill at being intimate with a knife, but I did get to see a _side_ of her that I bet you wish you got to see."

Louie yelled as he tore around the corner, pulling the handle of the sword up with him as he lifted himself up and ran down the hall toward the man. The first arrow was shot at him and he batted it away with his sword, but he had swung too hard to catch a second one as the man quick drew and fired. The arrow embedded into his thigh, yet he charged on, forcing his body through the pain as he barreled toward the man.

The man drew a third time in a quick-as-lightning fashion, shooting toward Louie's chest who recovered enough to bat the arrow ungainly away. The tip caught along the inside of his arm and a fourth arrow punched into his shoulder, making him lurch. He grit his teeth and continued to charge at the man who was smiling a deadly grin as he held one arrow in his hand and prepared a second.

Louie didn't bother to try and deflect the next two arrows, lunging and leaping into the air, he took the next in his chest plate as he slashed into the bow, causing the weapon to break with a good cut into it. Caraway turned the arrow around in his hand and using it like a dagger, plunged it hard into Louie's back, slamming him down into the ground with a punch before snapping the arrow point off.

"You guys are pathetic!" He took out a dagger nearly a short sword and the actual short sword at his waist. "Genie runs around you amateurs? She must feel sorry for you punks!"

Turning his weapons point down to stab into the back of Louie, he idled while he wondered if he should twist the blades in the poor guys back, just to make him suffer before rearing back and thrusting. Louie rolled away and onto the piece of the arrow still in his back, holding his sword to his chest so that it would be aimed straight up as he turned over. Caraway adjusted the aim of his dagger to punch into the chest, though not as close to the heart as he had been aiming for, though he did get a good scream out of him.

This day was just turning out to be so enjoyable. He had made that cranky bitch suffer, not nearly as long as he wanted to, and now he got to pick up where he left off at. This day couldn't possibly get any better for him. As he leaned over to look down into Louie's face at the suffering he was going through, he noticed that Louie was mumbling something under his breath, something that wasn't a whimper or a prayer, and definitely not begging for mercy.

Caraway never saw it coming as a fireball ripped upward from the cross guard of Louie's sword, enveloping the mercenary's head in the primal element before washing over his face and shoulders and exploding. The effect was disgustingly gruesome as his head met the same fate of the fireball, too close to the place from where it emerged. The body violently flew backwards, blown backwards by the force from the explosion.

Louie tried to move, wanting to do anything but lay where he was. The pain that he was feeling throughout his body was paralyzing him and taking his strength. Thoughts of Genie and Rydon needing his help was the only thing that made his arm rise weakly into the air before he could pull himself into a sitting position.

He coughed and felt something wet brush past his lips, but his eyes wouldn't focus enough for him to see what it was. He needed light to see, something was wanting him to see what it was that he had spit out, as if it was somehow important. Turning his head back and forth to look for a torch, he saw a dim light off to the side and down the hall.

Walking down the hallway, he pressed himself against the wall, forcing himself to head toward the light so he could see why he was coughing. There was something tugging at his chest at well, something metal though his brain couldn't catch what it was. As he walked out the rampway that seemed to lead into the woods, he looked down at his chest once again at what was weighing so heavily on him.

There was a dagger in his chest.

He could see clearly that there was a dagger plunged into his chest, but he didn't feel it except as a heavy weight pulling at him. The fact that it didn't hurt was probably a bad thing, but he couldn't worry about that, Genie needed help. He looked back down the rampway into the darkness behind him, wondering if he could ever find his way back to them. Deciding against it, he turned around and headed in the direction of the ruined house.

* * *

Homun pushed open the stoned wall, walking into a scene of insanity. Goblins scrambled over themselves trying to get to the red headed warrior and the raging dwarf, fighting to maintain their feet. Homun didn't give them time to notice that he had come into the area as he clapped his hands together before kneeling and slamming one hand into the ground. From the ground arose spikes in varying sizes, spearing many of the goblins and crushing the others as the spikes broke into rough rocks. Many of the goblins broke from the fight to run into the small rooms they had come from, trying to get as far from the area where the earth rose up to eat them.

"It's about time you got here!" Homun said as he crushed an errant goblin who tried to sneak past him to escape down the stairs he and Genie were protecting.

"You wanted me to have all the fun?" Homun called as he grabbed a goblin by its head and smashing it in his palm in a messy, gory death.

"Never mind that." Genie called as she turned to the stairs behind her. "We have to catch up to Louie and Melissa."

Before she took a step, she heard Melissa calling up to her from down below. She rushed down the steps, sword held before her as she hurried to her, only to find her guiding a very badly shaken Merrill toward them past the three hobgoblin bodies on the floor. "Thank Mylee, you're alright. Help me with Merrill."

Sheathing her weapon, she came over and picked up Merrill into her arms, holding her as if she weighed nothing. "Where's Louie? I thought he was with you." Genie said as she looked over past Melissa for the mage.

Melissa shook her head. "He ran off looking for the person who did this to Merrill." Melissa looked worriedly back the way she came from. "I thought I heard yelling not too long ago, but I don't know anymore."

"Let's get her outside first, I'll tend to her once we reach the surface." Rydon said as he started back up the stairs, followed by Genie.

Homun stayed and looked at Melissa who was gazing worriedly back the way she came. "You can't do anything yourself but get lost. Right now, Merrill needs you." It almost sounded like he was being considerate to her worries, but that was uncharacteristic of him if he was.

Turning her around, Homun guided her back up the stairs and outside into the light where Rydon was performing a healing spell on Merrill. Celecia came over to Melissa, looking behind them when Louie didn't come out after them. Before she could go down looking for him, Homun took her arm and shook his head, denying her the right to go looking for him.

Melissa walked over and stood behind Rydon as he continued to heal Merrill's wounds, recovering her more than Melissa could while worried for her friends safety. "How is she?" She asked the question, even knowing that she was going to be healthy, possibly more so than when she had not been hurt.

Merrill spoke before Rydon could. "I'm better, Melissa." She smiled up at her as Rydon helped her to stand, though she pulled a spare cloak around her to hide her modesty. "I just wish I had been a bit more careful about what happened to me."

"He didn't…?" Melissa wasn't exactly sure how she was going to ask something of Merrill who knowingly shook her head.

"He just wanted to hear me scream." She shivered as she remembered what he did to her. "I think he might have if he didn't like what he heard."

"Merrill, you and Rydon stay here, we're going to go back in and look for Louie." Genie said as she turned around and started heading back down when Homun called out to her.

"Someone's coming." He said as he pulled his sword from behind him. Genie moved in front of Merrill to defend her while Melissa took Genie's right side, going to do her part to defend her friend from any reinforcements that were arriving to ambush them.

What came out of the woods wasn't the ambush they thought it was. Louie, blood pouring from the dagger in his chest and the arrows still sticking out of his arm and leg, looked around at his friends with a dazed glaze in his eyes. "Thank goodness, you're all safe." Louie stepped forward on a wobbly leg, nearly falling forward on his face and somehow managing to stay on his feet. "I was on my way to help you guys…"

Before he could have gotten another step off, Genie and Melissa caught him, turning him over and laying him down. When he grimaced in pain, Genie turned him on his unwounded side and checked his back, finding the broken off arrow. Rydon and Melissa began calling on Mylee to heal Louie's wounds while the rest gathered around him.

When Louie saw Merrill walking over to him, he smiled weakly. "Merrill, I got him for you." He uttered weakly as he tried reaching an arm out to her. "I'm not such a screw up after all."

Merrill reached out for Louie's hand before it dropped to the ground, his energy spent. Rydon and Melissa restarted the chant to heal Louie as the color started to leave his face and his breath came in shorter and shorter gasps. It was Rydon that looked at Melissa with worry first. "We can't heal him properly here. We need to get back to town before we lose him."

"We'll never make it back to town carrying him and trying to heal him at the same time." Melissa said as she tried to think of a way to save Louie, though coming up with none immediately.

Homun smacked his hands one at a time over the back of his other hand before he began to scribe new circles onto his hands. They flashed briefly as the previous magick was knocked loose from the gloves only to glow silvery before fading away. Reaching down and getting help from Genie to get Louie into his arms, Homun began to carry him back toward town.

"Homun, you can't." Rydon spoke to him, trying to grab hold on the mercenary's arm.

"The sooner we get back to town, the less chance there is I'll die." Homun said as he began marching off into the woods.

"What did he mean by that?" Merrill asked, wondering what was going on.

"Homun is using a forbidden spell, one that was used during the wars long ago to maintain the health of the fatally wounded till they could be brought back someplace to be healed properly." Rydon grabbed his hammer and began marching off after Homun, hurrying to follow the mercenary. "It's forbidden because it doesn't use healing powers to fix the body, but uses the carrier's health to keep the wounded spirit alive. If they couldn't get them help before both of their energy is expended, they'll both die."

Picking their paces up, the women gathered themselves up and left the ruins behind, vowing to come back and inspect them thoroughly when they could.

* * *

**I just don't like how this chapter ended, I'm not changing it for now, but I might if someone has an opinion about it being as bad as how I think it is.**


	20. Chapter 19

**It's a frigid day out here, no snow, just cold as the icy shoulder of death itself. I'm still here and can still post, so no one hasn't sued me for my blasphemous writing yet. Maybe I should try something defamatory, like saying that Bill Gates is poor or something...**

**Disclaimer: Not owning Rune Soldier has not stopped me from writing this chapter. I'd stop if they told me to, but they haven't told me yet. I also don't own Bill Gates, I just rent...**

**WARNING! There is a bit of a lemon moment at the bottom, or at least suggested lemon. The Story is rated M for reasons, like for the graphic content of heads blowing up or something...**

* * *

"How are they?" Celecia asked as Rydon and Melissa walked into the small sitting room sized for the dwarven priest. Genie and Merrill sat nearby, Merrill only leaving to return newly dressed before taking a seat and waiting to hear for herself about her partner.

"Homun will be fine." Rydon said as he nearly fell backwards into his chair, leaning back and making it creak horribly as the dwarf arched his back to try and relieve some of the fatigue spell casting had incurred on him. "It seems he was on the cusp of death one or twice, but found the fortitude to get Louie here with plenty of time to spare."

"Who cares about that jerk?" Merrill callously spat, making Rydon look at her with a chiding glare. "How is Louie?"

Melissa sighed as she took a seat slowly, trying to hide the wobble in her legs. "He's stable, for now." Her voice was steady, although her nerves were not. "It's still too soon to tell if he'll recover. The healing may have been successful, but the strain of so much healing done onto his body may have been too much for him."

"It will give us time, then." Genie stood up away from the wall and headed for the main entrance of the house. "I want to know what happened to Louie, who injured him like that, but something more importantly, I want to know what happened to the guy that attacked Merrill."

"You're going back." Melissa spoke to her, Genie's firm nod all the acknowledgement she was going to give.

"I want to know the truth." Genie was in a stormy mood as she headed for the door. "I wouldn't rest well if he was still out there."

"I'll go with you, Genie." Genie stopped long enough to look at her short friend. "I'm the only one who could identify the man who did that to me for sure, unless you saw his face."

"Be careful, you two." Celecia said as Genie and Merrill headed out the door and off back toward the ruins outside of town. Looking at the wearied Rydon and Melissa, Celecia spoke quietly. "You two look like you're about ready to drop. You should rest while you can."

Rydon merely nodded from where he sat while Melissa tried to stand on her own. "I need to stay near Louie." She muttered weakly as she tried to stand once more, nearly falling forward out of the chair she was in.

Celecia put a hand to her shoulder, smiling at her in a caring fashion. "I'll call you if he takes a turn for the worse. Go rest until then, he'll only try to make you feel better if he sees you."

Melissa fought with the idea of Louie trying to comfort her instead of her doing the same for him and nodded weakly to the elf. With Celecia's aid, she got to her feet and headed to the room Rydon had given to her on the day they had first arrived in town. She walked in and collapsed onto the bed, too tired to do anything but weakly pull the rest of her body onto the mattress.

She gave a silent prayer to Mylee for his mercy to let Louie live before she fell asleep.

* * *

Louie sank in and out of consciousness for the next week coming out of his delirium and nightmares for brief moments in time. The straight blonde hair of the elf girl, Celecia, was the first thing he noticed as she leaned overtop of him in apparent sleep. Unable to keep his eyes open any longer than to notice her, he fell back into the nightmare of fighting Caraway and blowing his head off.

At the point of a head blowing into sickening wet pieces from a fireball spell, He woke once again to the sight of Genie sitting stoically at his bedside. He tried to speak, managing to rasp just hoarsely enough to get her attention. She hushed him quietly and took a cup that was sitting next to the bed, pouring a little water into his mouth before he passed out again.

The dreams were a little better this time around, though not by much. His head played tricks with him as he relived running into the room where Merrill had been held captive if for nothing more than hours after her kidnapping. This time, however, his mind added worse outcomes that had occurred to her and made him cringe as his fever pitched mind seemed to enjoy tormenting him in his dreams.

Once again, his eyes snapped open and he was panting in a sweat as a cold washcloth was reapplied to his brow. He looked over at a tear stricken Melissa as she gently applied the compress to his head and took his hand in hers, saying something in a language his ears fiercely denied to translate for his brain. He could only wonder what she had been crying over before his eyes betrayed him and subjected him to the horrors of his head once more.

When his eyes opened again, Louie wasn't sure where he was, but he was sure that whatever had taken hold of him had finally let go of him, though he was terribly weak. He tried to slide his arms out from under the blankets and fought briefly against their weight before sliding first his left and then his right arm from underneath their weight. He could only figure that he must have been sick if he was so weak, unable to recall exactly how he had gotten that way.

He sat up carefully in his bed, noticing the glass by the bedside and reached for it, attempting to pick it up only to have it nearly slip from his fingers. He cursed lightly at his hands ineptness before reaching over with both of his hands and taking hold of it as firmly as he could. Even in both of his hands, it had tried to slip free once again and he used his palms to hold it between his hands while he tilted it slowly to his lips.

To say he was dry was like saying the ocean was wet. His lips felt like they cracked under the briefest touch of water to them as he sipped carefully from the cup. As warm as it felt, it was a relief to his parched body.

He managed to get the cup back onto the nightstand as the door to his room opened and a blue vested girl came into his room. She hesitated in the doorway before closing it quietly behind herself and walking over to his bedside. There was a chair there that Louie didn't notice till the girl sat in it, wondering why it was so close to the bed and why the girl had come over to see him in the first place.

"How do you feel?" She asked quietly of him. He tried placing a name to her, but was denied this as he attempted to speak.

"I'm not sure." His voice sounded rough in his own ears, wondering if he always sounded like this, or was it the effects of the sickness. "I guess I feel better." Something in the girl's eyes made him want to dissuade the doubt she held there, it felt important to him.

"You've been sick for nearly a week." She confided in him as she took the glass from the nightstand and offered it to him. He nodded to her and tried to take it from her, only to have her stand and make the effort of putting it to his lips for him to drink. "You had us all worried for awhile there."

"I had some bad dreams." His mind was still grasping for her name, though he was getting somewhat closer. Something to do with money, though his brain just couldn't take the leap of faith into the abyss without some time of hint. "You were in them."

"Dreams?" the girl asked him quizzically, though her face didn't change from the concerned look she was giving him.

"You had been captured." He thought over again about the dreams that wouldn't go away after waking. "Someone was comforting you and you were hurt. I became upset and ran, looking for the person who hurt you." His head began to hurt as he tried to recall the dream as it happened. "I think I found him and there was a fight…"

"Louie…" she was trying to get his attention, but he continued right over her.

"He was gloating about what he did." A shiver rushed through his body, whether from chills or from something else. "He wouldn't stop talking about how he hurt you, and I…"

"Louie, it's alright." She took his hand in hers and squeezed it gently, trying to get his attention. "We found him a few days ago. You were lucky to survive someone like him, there was nothing you could have done otherwise."

He looked at her with dread in his eyes the likes of which she had never seen from him, and it scared her. "Did I really kill him?" His voice wavered, unsure of what he did or even if he had done it. "Merrill, please tell me it was all a dream."

"Louie…" Merrill wished there was anything else she could do for him, but this. It was about the only good thing that he had managed to get right, and yet, it had caused him the most suffering. "I'll tell you when you get better. Right now, you need to get your rest."

She stood and patted his shoulder as she helped him lie back down in his bed and cover him back up. She watched him s he slowly fell back to his troubled dreams before gathering herself up and leaving the room. She didn't go far as she made for the sitting room where everyone had gathered, including the recovered Homun.

"He woke up for a little while." Merrill replied to them all, watching as Genie and Melissa made to move toward Louie's room before she held her hand up to stop them. "He's troubled about killing Caraway, but I think that's all that's wrong with him. I just put him back under his covers so he could rest a bit more."

"It had to be a shock for him." Celecia said softly, sadly. "Louie wouldn't hurt anyone if he could avoid it, and instead, ended up killing a man unintentionally."

"Personally, Caraway wasn't that much of a man and more a monster running around as a guy." Genie said as she tilted her head back downward, recrossing her arms before herself.

"Still, Louie would never kill anyone, no matter how much one deserves it." Melissa said, shuddering at the description of the body that Genie and Merrill had found. "I only hope that he can come to terms with what he has done."

"Could you come to terms for inadvertently killing someone you were trying to heal? Even if they were condemned to death for previous crimes?" Homun looked at her from his perch on the counter that showed the kitchen behind him. "Being the pacifists you are, I doubt any of you have ever looked someone in the face before they died."

Melissa glared hot death at Homun where Rydon patted her arm in a consoling matter. "Killing changes a person, whether intentional or not." Rydon said, wisdom in his voice as he drew the priestess from her directed ire. "He may not be the man you have come to know after this."

"Louie's tougher than that." Genie said as she stood up straighter and glared at anyone who would say otherwise, dropping her arms to her side.

"He's more stubborn than anyone else I've known." Merrill said with a grin that spoke volumes.

"He is my destined champion." Melissa said as she stood up and looked to her traveling partners, nodding silently to them as she made a silent vow with all of them.

They would help Louie, any way that they could.

* * *

It took Louie another few days to gain back his strength before Rydon checked him out and gave him a clean bill of health, but it was obvious to those who were closest to him that depression and sunk into his very being. Listless would have been putting it mildly to referring to Louie's lack of talking or even his over energized antics.

Genie took charge of him, taking him out back and started his physical training he had not been able to get for the last two weeks. The calisthenics Louie breezed through, finding an outlet that made him move without thinking too much of the past. It was only when Genie suggested they tried sparring that Louie never raised his sword or defend himself. Unsuccessfully, Genie tried many times to get Louie to go for his sword, even going so far as to nearly drive her sword into his shoulder before she gave up with a disgusted sound and walked away in frustration.

Merrill tried next, taking out after the sun had gone down and took him to the tavern. She offered to pay for drinks till they were too drunk to care anymore, even to get a few of the barmaids to hang all over him like they used to in Ohfun at some of the more expensive establishments. Although he declined the women, he did take her up on the offer of the drinks. Long after everyone had turned in, Louie had carried Merrill out in his arms back to bed, never having tasted the first drop of his drink that had been bought for him.

Melissa looking at the frustration on the faces of Genie and Merrill, admonished to herself that she would try anything to get him to return to normal. At first, she had suggested they go into town and look for any adventures that they could do while out gathering intelligence on Dardanel, to which Louie declined. Stymied by her first failure, she offered to just listen to Louie and to be with him so that they could do whatever he wanted for one entire day. Once again, she was met with a kind, yet decidedly sad negative.

She didn't find him again until nightfall, he was sitting in the grove behind Rydon's house, hidden amongst the shrubs and trees. She watched him for a time as he seemed to sleep peacefully at the foot of a tree until he sighed and tilted his head upwards to the night sky. His face conveyed the sadness he was feeling to her, even without the streaks of tear tracks trailing down his face.

"Louie?" she called to him, not really knowing why she did yet finding her lips forming the words that fell from her.

He stood up quickly, wiping at his face before turning to look in her direction. The look of hopelessness on his face was breaking her heart, as she wished there was something she could do to help him. "I didn't hear you coming." Louie said, trying to feign innocence. "It's awful late for you to be out here, is everything o.k.?"

"I could say the same of you, Louie." Melissa walked up to him, looking up into his face. "You look better." She smiled at him with no real power behind it.

"I feel better, and it's all thanks to you." He gave her the same false smile she felt was on her face, he was getting good at bolstering everyone around him with those masks he seemed to have found.

"I was starting to worry about you, Louie." Melissa wasn't sure how she was going to approach this subject, opting to gathering up her courage before she would have to go to Plan B. "You've seemed to be not the same since recovering."

"I've…had a lot on my mind." The hesitation had been just slight, but it still screamed at her that he was trying to avoid the subject.

"You don't have to force yourself, Louie." Melissa tried to take a step toward him to console him, but he stepped back, as if afraid of her. "We're here with you in this."

"Honestly, Melissa, I don't think I can handle having everyone help me with this one." He sighed as he turned around, unable to maintain the smile any longer. "I know that Genie wants me to try to get over it, and it seems like Merrill's even concerned about me, but I'm not sure I want to try to get over what I did." He raised his hands before him, looking at the blood that only he could see there. "I never thought that my actions would take someone's life. Heck, I never wanted to take anyone's life before."

His hands clenched before him as his anger rose in him once again. "When that man bragged about how he tortured Merrill after what I had seen of her, I couldn't think. I just attacked until I was brought down in front of him, and when he thought I was defeated, I killed him."

A shudder ran through Louie's body and Melissa's hand tentatively reached for him, only to be restrained by herself. "I would rather have that horrible man dead than you, Louie." Melissa firmed herself with her resolve. "He deserved far worse than what happened to him."

"It wasn't my place to kill him." Louie whispered aloud, Melissa's ears barely catching it. "I should have found another way."

"Mylee teaches us than in some cases, there is no other way but the sword." Melissa recited by rote, trying to comfort Louie. She softened her tone as she went on. "I honestly think that if you didn't stop him, he may have come after the rest of us, one at a time, until he got bored of capturing us or simply killed us without our knowledge."

"He should have been arrested and brought before the law of the village, not have his head…" Louie violently shuddered.

Plan A wasn't working. She didn't know what else to do, and she didn't really want to go through with Plan B, but she didn't know what else to do. Talking wasn't getting through to him at all. "Louie," Melissa started as she reached up and placed her hand on his shoulder, "come to bed."

"I don't think I can sleep right now, Melissa. Thank you anyways." He tried to step away from her hand, but she gripped his shoulder harder.

"Louie, come to bed." Gods above, he was going to make her say it. At least let it be for the right reasons. "With me." Melissa hesitantly added.

Louie froze as if he was hit with his own paralysis spell. His entire body went rigid under her touch and she removed her hand quickly before he noticed her shaking in apprehension. Without turning, his voice called out to her in disbelief. "Come again?"

Her cheeks flamed in embarrassment as she was forced to say it once more. "I want you to come to bed with me." Her voice trembled in embarrassment, she was mortified it had come down to this at all.

He turned slightly to try to look her in the eye. When she saw him turn, she stared down at her feet, unable to make eye contact with him. Even in the dark, Louie could tell that she was beet red from her ears down past her collar.

"No." Louie said as he turned around again and started to walk off.

"What?" Melissa asked as she glanced up at Louie's back as he walked away. "Why not?" As Louie continued to walk away from her, her temper flared. "Louie, don't you walk away from me!"

"I'm not like that man." Louie stopped when he spoke, but didn't turn around to look at her. "If I'm going to be with someone, I want to be with them because I want to, not because someone is taking pity on me."

"I'm not taking pity on you, damn it!" He turned around and looked at her. She dropped her eyes in embarrassment as soon as she realized she had shouted at him.

"I'm sorry, Melissa." He turned away and continued to walk off.

* * *

**G.B.: Damn, that's got to hurt...**

**Melissa: I don't want to talk about it...**

**G.B.:Exactly what is it like to a woman's pride when you throw yourself at a man and have him walk off like that, anyways?**

**Melissa: It's not like that...**

**G.B.: So, exactly what is it like?**

**(A pixie goes flying by the author, making his eyes widen in fear)**

**Homun: Is this guy bothering you?**

**G.B.: help...**


	21. Chapter 20

**I'm snowed in, Level 3 snow emergency and all that. I'd like to see the police catch me riding behind a snow mobile. Being that it's Valentine's Day (at least on this side of the planet) This chapter goes out to all of you who are here reading this instead of giving chocolates to your sweethearts. If this is your chocolate, I'm not that kind of Author!**

**Disclaimer: Valentine's day isn't owned by the Author and it's not nearly as lucrative as Halloween. Buy your costumes early, people! Oh, and I don't own Rune Soldier.**

* * *

"Dardanel." The silken voice of Jandice called into the room from the doorway, her silken wrappings pulled snug against her over exposed body. "I have a message from Xoldir."

"Did you find Caraway?" Dardanel's voice was cool and flowed easily through the darkened room, his fingers arched before him.

"What was left of him." Jandice didn't move toward her master. She wasn't sure how he was going to take the news. "The ruins were deserted, and all the monsters ran off when no one was attending to them. It seems that they came back some time later and ate what was left of the corpse."

"That's too bad." He moved his silk gloved hands and rested them on the arms of the chair he rested in, the back hiding him in shadows from the window behind him, framing him. "Needless resources run off, but I'm assuming that you have good news for me?"

Jandice knew he was offering her a way to make things better in his eyes. Hoping she did have better news for her sake, she continued. "I was able to create a full functional goblinoid that seems to act and fight as its original. The Hobgoblins are harder to control during the growth stage and are still unable to keep their forms intact. I am fairly certain that I can make more of the goblins in their place, at least until I find the problem."

"What about the others?" Dardanel hadn't yelled at her yet, so she was safe for now, but her next answer could very well be her doom. "I'm taking them more slower than the hobgoblins. It's worse the larger the form gets, but I'm gradually creating some better ones. Unfortunately, it appears that time is the factor when making our army."

"Our Army?" Dardanel questioned dangerously. His fingernails had dug into the arms of the chair, ripping through the silken gloves.

"Forgive my impertinence, my Lord." She bowed to him, hoping that he would be merciful.

"I want results, Jandice." He stood up from the chair, his oily black hair trimmed to perfection in the aristocratic way. Beard and mustache well kept and boxing his face in, the only part of his face that would have distracted one from assuming he was a normal man were his eyes. They peered at Jandice in pointed fashion with a slightly crazed look. "You will have better news before tonight, I imagine?"

"Of course, my Lord." She stayed bowed to him. Looking into his face while he was like this was a death sentence. Ever since coming back with Lyssa he had been like this, and she hated the witch for it.

She felt his hand in her hair just before he took a handful in his tight iron grip and wrenched her to stand before him. Fear etched itself into her face as she was forced to look into his maddened eyes before her lips were taken by force. She melted into that kiss, wanting him to take her power and make her his in any way that he could desire of her. She would do anything for him.

-

"How do you do it?" The voice turned Homun around where he stood to look at the diminutive thief. Merrill looked him in the face with determination as he stared at her in confusion. "How can you go around as if you're not human?" she asked the question that made Homun turn on the spot and continued to walk away from her.

"It's easier than you know." Homun said with little emotion. "What is it you really want to know?"

"I was wondering if you'd seen Louie." Merrill asked as she looked down in front of her, missing the glance from the mercenary. "He's gone missing since last night."

"Why should I be keeping tabs on him?" Homun asked with a disgusted tone. He wasn't a troop leader, and wasn't about to even think of these people as his scouts he had to watch over.

"Well…" Honestly, it was a bad idea asking Homun the whereabouts of anyone of their group, but for some reason, "I thought you being a guy as well, you'd have some insight on where guys go to get away."

Homun stopped in his tracks and turned at Merrill, looking down at her with the strangest look on his face. She looked up at him and stared him in the eye, though she wondered why he was giving her the look. Sighing in a defeated manner he turned and places his fingers to his lips before blowing a shrill whistle.

Waiting for a few seconds in confusion as to why he was whistling, a green streak came flying from out of the sky and glomped Homun's head with a high pitched squeal of delight. A look of resignation passed over Homun's face briefly as the pixie kissed him and rubbed her cheek against his. Homun awkwardly made over the pixie by petting it once before picking it up by its clothes near its wings and put it in his palm.

"Find me Louie, little one." Homun spoke softly to the air elemental who looked in confusion at Homun for a brief instant before it smiled brightly and glomped his face a second time. Merrill stifled a snicker while Homun flailed his arms since he was effectively blinded by the pixie till he managed to extricate it from his face.

Throwing it out in front of him with a flick of his hand, he pointed off away from Rydon's church. "Find me that fool of a mage, Louie." Homun hissed at the pixie that only sniffed once and floated lazily into town. Homun turned to Merrill and pointed after the fading green light. "Follow it to find your boyfriend." Homun grinned maliciously as Merrill shot him a glare before walking off after the floating spirit.

Merrill set off after the lazy floating light, watching wobble back and forth as she headed further into town. She watched it for any sign or general direction of where it would head next only to come back to the center of the street and slowly progress its way into town. Some of the kids came over to poke fun at the floating pixie and to even call out to it. A stone came flying at it at one point in time, narrowly missing it as it floated up out of the way and shook its fist back at the kid before floating onward.

Eventually the kids walked away from it and she followed the little floating spirit onward. It moved in a general direction until it finally came to a stop at the inn before it flew into a window and disappeared from sight. Walking into the foyer of the inn, she listened around for anything before going room to room in the main hall on the first floor until she found a maid. The maid told her where to find Louie.

Up on the second floor of the inn, Merrill opened the door into Louie's room. The pixie had taken up a seat in front of the passed out Louie's head that laid on the foreign table no taller than her shins. His legs tucked under a cloth that dangled from the bottom of the tabletop, several bottles of alcohol could be seen sitting around him and a turned over cup in front of his face.

The pixie could be seen sticking out of the overturned cup, feet and butt only visible while Louie slept onward. Merrill sighed sadly down at him as she walked over and placed her hands on her hips. "Hey, Louie." Merrill said gently to the unconscious mage. Not getting anything from him, she kicked his head and knocked him over roughly.

Louie blinked his eyes blearily as he rubbed his head, wondering what brought him back to his misery. He peered upward through squinting eyes at Merrill, who was glaring down at Louie.

"So this is where you were at." She spoke in an angered voice.

"Merrill?" Louie spoke with a slur, making Merrill frown harder down at him.

"Yeah, it's Merrill." She said with a frustrated sigh. "Look, we've been looking for you for the better part of a day now. We were getting worried about you."

He grunted softly as he tried to sit back up, getting back up to a sitting position after the third try. Reaching for the tipped over cup, he put it back upright and tried to take a drink of it, only to get a mouthful of pixie. He spit out the offending air spirit onto the table, which normally would have been offended if not totally drunk from the contents of the cup.

"God, your drunk." Merrill was disappointed in him, no two ways about it.

"Not drunk enough." Mumbled Louie as he picked up a bottle not quite empty and poured himself another drink.

"God damnit, Louie." Merrill reached down and fought to take the bottle away from him, which he only relinquished after managing to get a mouthful into his cup. "What the hell is wrong with you? This isn't like you at all!"

"Well, what is?" Louie slurred out as he yelled in her direction. "I killed a man not too long ago, in case you don't remember."

"You didn't have a choice!" Merrill shouted back at him.

"I had every choice there was!" Louie shouted back at her. He shot her a drunken, yet angry look. "I ended a man's life, Merrill! That makes me a murderer!"

Merrill went to slap him as hard as she could, but as drunk as he was, his hands were still fast, fast enough to catch her wrist. She pulled on her arm, trying to free her captured hand, only to have Louie pull back just as hard. She was slowly winning the war against the drunken man until he leaned too far back and lost his balance, pulling her along with him as her foot caught the leg of the table and had her trip into him.

Her head hit something hard and she moaned, but it didn't sound as loud as it should have been. When she opened her eyes, she found that she was kissing Louie on the lips, who looked just as surprised as he did. His lips felt…soft, compared to how rough his hands always felt.

Taking a moment to realize that she was laying on his chest, she scrambled to get up off of him while trying to wipe her lips with the back of her hand. She stood up abruptly, looking at Louie without really sure of what she was feeling about him, before mumbling something along the lines of having to get to work before leaving the room.

Louie didn't even try to move, unsure exactly what just happened. With the alcohol in his system and the shock of the petite thief falling on him, he wasn't sure if her eyes were really green or not.

-

Homun sat in the bar pretty much all day, wondering why the smell of the tunnels underneath the ruin bothered him so much. True, there had been nothing there when he had gone back to them a few days ago, the feel of ancient magicks hovered all through the warrens and catacombs of something he had felt a long time ago.

He looked up when someone sat down across from him. His brow narrowed when he realized who had taken a seat across from him, letting in with it a little green drunk pixie as it wobbled left to right before collapsing to the tabletop with a soft thump.

"You don't usually drink." Lyssa spoke as she ordered a drink from a passing maid. She poked at the collapsed pixie that was crawling forward on all four toward Homun with a drunken smile on its face.

"I come for the atmosphere, it helps me think." Homun said lightly, picking the poor pixie up and placing it in one hand as it tried to crawl up his arm to his face. "You don't come to drink either." Homun watched Lyssa carefully, his voice trying to stay even.

"It's nice getting out once in awhile, watching life pass from time to time." Lyssa took the cup from the maid as she passed by. She swirled the drink before putting down in front of herself.

"We have lots of time to do that." Homun took his cup into his hand took a drink, wetting his lips with the liquid.

"Do we?" Lyssa gave him a critical look that never touched her face.

"You intend on leaving soon?" He looked over the lip of his cup before putting it back down, then moved the pixie to his shoulder where it latched hold of his neck for dear life.

"I just find it hard." She looked around the room with a look of nostalgia. She let her eyes roam from face to face in the room, passing from the few people near the fire, the bard that had come to town in his travels, even the barmaids and the lady bartender behind the bar. "It's not fair." She mused.

"It's not supposed to be." Homun did take a drink from his cup this time, downing the nearly full cup in one go while Lyssa looked around the room. "We don't belong in this world." He said as he looked at the bottom of the cup, as if it had all the answers.

She looked over at Homun with a hurt, defenseless look. Homun had seen that look once on her, and decided to broach the past once again. "You wouldn't go with me." He put the empty cup down on the table, which was taken within moments and brought back full before Lyssa answered.

"I had my duty." She gave the only answer she could give.

"I had my duty, too." Homun leaned forward and laid his hand palm up on the tabletop in front of her. "I chose to forsake them and their desires if you would go with me."

"I was a bit more…obligated than you were." Lyssa put her hand next to Homun's not in it. She looked down at their hands so close, and yet kept apart by the fates. "You should have gone without me."

"I told you I'd never leave you behind like that." Homun removed his hand and sat back against the chair's back, gazing at the forlorn Lyssa. "You seem to think that I would leave you to time's embrace by the way you act."

"We are beyond time's grasp." Lyssa stared hotly at Homun, receiving a weak nod from her.

"I can think of no crueler punishment than to live onwards long after everything." The pixie started to nod off on his shoulder, jerking back to a sitting position before slumping forward and falling nearly asleep.

"I could." Lyssa muttered under her breath, inaudible to who she was sitting across from.

They were silent for a moment, both in their own thoughts with their drinks as yet untouched. They went that way for many minutes before Homun stood up and cradled the pixie into his hand as it finally fell asleep, unable to keep awake any longer.

"I'm going to bed." Homun walked past her, not looking back at her as he walked past.

"Find peace, Wanderer." Lyssa called to him over her shoulder, a sort of longing in her voice though she never turned to look at him.

"Find peace, when it takes you." Homun called back to her, their old oath to each other. He walked out the door without a backwards glance.

-

"Xoldir." Dardanel called for his assassin and with the briefest of sounds, the half breed elf appeared before him. "I have a mission for you."

"I am at your service, Lord Dardanel." Xoldir bowed to him, though he kept his eyes on Dardanel at all times.

"We will not be able to supply our forces with just the beastmen alone." Dardanel clasped his hands before himself as he sat in his chair, the darkness shrouding his face. "We are going to need men to fight with the beasts."

"Any particular type of animal?" Mercenaries were nothing but animals, feeding from the hand that pays well.

"I give you the freedom of choice in that matter. Just make sure we have the necessary arms to swing the swords." His voice never betrayed him, for they were nothing but willing butchers led to the slaughter, as long as they did their job.

"How many should I recruit?" Xoldir had a few places he could pull in willing fighters, some would even know which end goes into a person's body.

"100,000 gold sovereigns should be a good start." Dardanel laid his hands on the arms of his chair. "The previous skirmish that never truly got started left us with a surplus of money, and no one to pay."

"I will hire the needed manpower." Xoldir bowed once again before taking his leave.

"Now we simply wait for the pawns to mount the board before we begin the game." Dardanel murmured happily to no one as he dug his fingernails into the chair, tearing through the new gloves he wore.

* * *

**That psycho is going through gloves quickly, he needs a fricken manicure or something. Kill me now for having the whole lip lock thing with Louie and Merrill, I said I would dabble with a little emotions if no one gave me an opinion, so this is the start of a whole lot of dabbling. Bwa Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha...**

**Merrill: That was so wrong.**

**G.B.: You liked it.**

**Merrill: That's besides the point...**


	22. Chapter 21

**I think that I will begin to tie up the story shortly. Another eight to ten chapters and I should be close to finish, though I may or may not extend it further if I feel like it. I will put the lines in this chapter this time, I was tired when posting the last chapter.**

**Disclaimer: Women's hearts are easier to possess in your hand than it is to get permission from the owners of Rune Soldier. On that note, I do not have permission. Flattery in all it's ways cannot get their permission.**

* * *

"We may be in for a lot of trouble." Homun said as he sat next to Rydon, the look on his face was a bit different than usual, if you knew what you were looking for.

"Worse than the possibility of being kidnapped or assassinated this time?" Rydon put his book down on the side table in his room, giving Homun his full attention.

"I've heard things." Homun looked Rydon in the eyes. "War is not far off."

"Wars come and go." Rydon said as he picked his book up and started to thumb through the pages, looking for the one page that he was at.

"A magickal war." Homun spoke softly, and Rydon's eyes shot up to Homun's over the top of the book.

Replacing the book slowly back onto the tabletop, he fixed Homun with a piercing gaze. "You're sure?" Homun gave him a dirty look, and Rydon raised his hand to him. "No, don't answer that. You've never had a reason to deceive me before."

"It's going to start right around us." Homun said as he looked around at the small room. "Mercenaries have already started to trickle into the town from abroad. Someone is buying up the men to fight as fast as they can."

"Dardanel." Rydon pinched the bridge of his nose as a headache started to pound inside his head.

"I assume as much, though word has it that the money is just the beginning." Homun looked at Rydon. "It would be advisable to keep the women near the temple from now on."

"I'll let them know when I find them." Rydon said as he stood up, Homun following suit right behind him. "Have you seen Celecia?"

"I found her not long from coming back from the tavern. She's staying in the glade behind the house when she needs to get away from the people." Homun followed Rydon out of the room as they headed for the chapel affixed to the front of the building.

"How is their friend, Louie, doing?" Rydon asked as he walked stepped into the cloister so he could don his proper vestments.

"He's slowly coming to accept that he killed someone, and that it was necessary." Homun said as he stood outside the cloister, leaning against the doorway. "Childhood adventuring is over for him, I think."

"If only the more innocent ramblings were true in life, instead of the harsh lives we lead." Rydon was just finishing putting on the raiment for preaching while he talked.

"If the world was more innocent than what it is, there would never have been a need for me." Homun commented before walking off. Church was not something he was meant for.

* * *

Louie walked down the main street of the town, looking back and forth at the men with weapons that walked openly in the streets, peering at everyone around them as if they expected someone to slit their throats from behind. Louie's hand itched for his weapon at his hip, though Louie didn't want to have that feeling there in his hand.

He hurried through the streets, stopping off at the stalls and the various stands for an apple, a wedge of cheese, and bread. He watched them mill about, sometimes for hours, sometimes for moments for the last day or two as they started to file into town. When he had nearly gotten into a fight with a kid who couldn't have been many years into being an adult, it was time for him to head back to Rydon's.

Stepping through the dwarf's doorway, he stopped in the nave and looked into the church where Rydon was conducting service. He could see Melissa beside the dwarf, sitting in a chair and looking toward him with a sort of serene look on her face. He wondered how long it had been since she had been a part of any church duties since leaving Ohfun, then wondered even before that.

She looked happy, something he hadn't really seen on her face in a long time, and it made him hurt inside for some reason. Shaking his head, he turned and left the church, leading down a side doorway toward Rydon's living area.

Merrill was sitting with Genie, playing cards from the look of it as Louie walked past their doorway into their room. Merrill must have been in a generous mood as she had a purse out and was distributing some of her money to Genie to play with. Apparently, they were playing a game that involved money, something Merrill usually shied away from. Genie was shuffling the cards, letting Merrill handle her money for as long as she wanted to.

He smiled at them as he passed, being quiet enough not to disturb them as they played their game in peace. Nostalgia struck him firmly as he thought back to when they had sat together at the bar in Ohfun, Genie and Louie playing a game of cards when Merrill had decided to join them and play for drinks. It had been their misfortune that night that Merrill had been the dealer for the majority of their games, and they had lost many hands afterwards.

He walked past his room and into the grove behind the house. Here he found Celecia humming to herself peacefully as she sat on the ground, her hand passing over the grass slowly as she moved it from side to side. There was something peaceful in watching her as she simply enjoyed nature as only she could, something that Louie wished he could about himself. He stood by the doorway, but must have made some awkward noise as Celecia looked over her shoulder at him and smiled gently to him.

"Welcome back, Louie." She called happily to him as she petted the grass once again.

"Her, Celecia." He called back to her, pasting that fake smile on him. "How are you doing?"

"I'm happy, I guess." A gnome happened to hop up into her lap as she spoke and she smiled at the little creature before shooing it down from her. "I miss the Tartious Forest and home, but I'm coping." She stood up slowly and turned toward Louie as she patted at her leggings. "How are you doing?" She looked at him with a worried frown momentarily before he tried to assuage her.

"Oh, you know me, couldn't be better." He grinned to her and she gave him a consoling smile that never touched her eyes before she walked over to him and took his hand in hers.

Giving his hand a squeeze, she looked up into his eyes. "I wish there was something I could do for you, Louie." His eyes crinkled in regret momentarily before he tried to speak and she put her fingers to his lips. "I'm not going to help you, though I want to. It's not right to try to tell you that things are going to be better when you've gone through so much."

She squeezed his hand and lifted up between them, "I know that you are strong, Louie. I've seen it so many times, and I know that you'll find your answer. You just have to give it time."

Louie went to speak, but held his comment as he looked down into Celecia's elfin eyes. There was a look of assurance in her eyes and determination that it caught his doubt in his throat. He wanted to deny the fact that he wasn't anything of what she said about him, but he couldn't. Those eyes of hers held him silent and filled him with something he needed to feel.

"Thanks, Celecia." He stepped toward her and pulled her close to him, embracing her gently against his body. Giving her silken hair a soft caress, he spoke again with the only thing that he could think of. "Thanks."

* * *

"Hey, Louie." Genie called to him from the darkened hallway. He had gone to lay down some time ago after talking with Celecia, taking with him the peace she had given him. "We're going to the tavern, you want to come with us?"

"Be there in a second, Genie." He called back as he threw on his jerkin. He wanted to start making new memories with his friends to drown out the last few times he went with his friends anywhere. He wanted to return to being a Louie he could stand to look at in the mirror, and that meant growing up a bit more.

He stepped out into the hallway, pulling his door closed behind himself as he looked to his three friends. They all held a smile for him, at least he thought it was for him. "So, what are we waiting for? Let's go!" He spoke a little too loudly for the hallway, but everyone seemed to take it as a sign that he was trying to get back to normal.

As they stepped outside, Louie stepped beside Genie and Melissa, tucking his hands behind his head as he smiled brightly. He could feel the tension from a few days ago rolling off his shoulders even before getting to the tavern. Even the eyes along the street didn't bother him so much as they had during the daylight hours.

They walked into the crowded tavern, finding a table of their own in the middle of the melee of people. Ordering a round of drinks and paying the waitress in advance, Louie handed over the coins as they all settled into their seats.

"I'm surprised, Louie." Melissa said as she looked over at the mage of their party. "I was sure you would have stayed back at your room."

"Let's just say I had a good talking to from some good friends." Louie smiled to everyone at the table. "They knew what they were talking about, I just needed to listen better is all."

"And exactly who were these friends of yours anyways, Louie?" Merrill smiled sneakily as she started to tease him, nudging him in the side. "Anybody we know?"

Louie smiled is own devious grin as he held his chin in his hand and did his best 'deep thinker' pose. "You know, now that you mention it, they were an interesting group of people. There was this really great swordswoman who was a strong as she was good looking, another was this really gorgeous looking priestess whose faith and ideals couldn't be matched." Louie gave this evil grin as he glanced at Merrill from the corner of his eyes. "Then there was this little thief with absolutely nothing good about her save that she was filthy rich…"

Merrill slammed her foot down onto the table top as she stood in her chair, pulling back the short sleeve of her jacket as she glared hotly at Louie. "You might want to think about rephrasing that, you lummox…"

"You forgot short tempered and shorter stature." Genie said from her side of the table as she took her mug from the waitress and took a pointed sip from it.

"Those are fighting words, I hope you know." Merrill sat herself back into her chair, though she was smiling soon afterwards at both Louie and Genie.

"The only fighting I'm interested in is to see who can drink the most and still make it back to their beds before morning." Louie said as he took his mug in hand and proceeded to tip it back into his mouth, taking a long drawn out pull from his mug until it was empty.

"The amateur sure talks a big game." Genie said as she drained her cup much the same way as Louie did. Merrill, not to be outdone by her counterparts, drained hers as well and called for the maid to come back.

Melissa smiled and watched her friends in their competitive antics, sipping from her cup. She was never the drinker that they were, but she did enjoy being around them as they talked about their days and relaxed in each others company. She sipped again from her cup as she looked over at Louie whom she had been worried for not too long ago and traced his face with her eyes.

It amazed her at how he seemed to bounce back from the troubles he was plagued with at times. Having no other moral tether except his own code of ethics, she marveled at how he tried to excel himself over every problem, until he broke one of his own rules. It had nearly devastated him, and now here he was, drinking and talking with them as if nothing had occurred out of the ordinary.

Genie was having pretty much the same thoughts, though more along the lines of how he seemed so much stronger than before. Sure, he had been muscularly built when they had first met him long ago in Ohfun, but he had been driven only by his need to drink and carouse. He'd been on several odd adventures with them since then, and had even held his own in a fight for their lives and against herself when she had wanted to beat him senseless. Sometimes, she wondered if Louie could ever be stopped when he wanted to do something, and thought smugly to herself how much he was just like her in that regard.

Merrill was thankful that he was doing much better, and was considering spending some of her own money on a few drinks. When she had first met him, he was a lush and a playboy. Now that he had found something in his life that made him forego those things, he wasn't a half bad guy at all. It was even more amazing that he had gone off and found the man who had tortured her and beaten him, something she never thought Louie would have done for her. In her book, that earned something special from her, but what could she do in return for him?

The night wore itself on and the drinks kept getting poured down their throats until they were all but totally gone in drunkenness. Their laughter had gotten louder and the jokes had steadily started coming, sometimes at each other, sometimes at their own pasts. Things were still progressing on their way to worse acts until Louie's face went from humorous to serious.

A hand touched Melissa's shoulder and she looked at it confused until she followed the hand upward to one attached to a man with a scarred face, one eye covered by a patch. "Excuse me, sister, but are you a priestess of Mylee?" the man's voice grated on hers ears, but her saintly duties demanded that she talk.

"I am a priestess of Mylee." Melissa stood slowly, her legs not quite working the way they needed to as she stood up unsteadily.

"Exactly, where do we have to go to worship at your altar?" The man sneered after he spoke to Melissa.

The comment didn't cross her brain in the way it had been implied. "The altar is down the street at the last building, the head priest is…"

"We know where church is, priestess." Two more men had joined the scarred man, both of them had their own sneers in place. "We were asking where we had to go to worship at _your_ altar…"

Genie and Merrill stood up, walking around to stand at the shoulders of their friend. Merrill looked pissed off, though she was wobbling on her feet whereas Genie looked to be in better sorts than her two friends.

"You're two friends look like they could use some worshipping as well." The scarred man licked his lips as he eyed Genie, whereas he glanced down at Merrill and his eye seemed to light up.

Louie stood up and walked away from the women, going to the bar with his cup in hand. He walked slowly to the bar and walked back to the table, though he walked around the back side of the men and stood there as the women stared down the men. He waited for Genie to start reaching for her weapon before he brought his full cup heavily down on the head of the leader of the men.

The cup broke wetly and harshly on the man's head, making him stagger and reach for his drunken friends as he began to collapse under the weight of his suddenly weakened body. After gathering himself up some, he turned around to face off against the person who had broken their mug over his head. Louie had already moved off before the man had recovered and had motioned for the girls to follow him.

Fighting soon broke out in the building as they left the bar, following Louie as he took them toward the inn. He paid for rooms for all of them and guided the women toward the both, opening the door for them and letting them go in under their own power. Genie looked back at him curiously before he smiled and closed the door after them.

Merrill, Genie, and Melissa soaked in the tub, trying to relax away the sudden stress the men at the bar had put on them, though Merrill decided to talk. "Is it just me, or is Louie acting strange?"

"He has been drinking as much as we have." Genie said, cinching off the towel that threatened to slip from her body once again.

"I wasn't drinking as much as all three of you." Melissa slightly slurred, her face flush as the alcohol coursed through her. "I think he was acting different as well."

They were all silent as they dwelled on his actions.

"Anyways, I'm just glad that he's back to normal." Merrill said as she stood up from the water, the towel clinging to her body. She stretched her arms overhead of herself as she felt her muscles relaxing.

"It's not nearly as fun picking on him when he's down in the dumps." Genie said as she reclined against the side of the large bathing area. Her eyes peered upward at the sky that shone down upon them.

"I'm just glad he has his standards." Melissa said as she took a washcloth and rubbed at her cheek, dabbing her lips from time to time as she started to dry out from the drinks. "I couldn't imagine what I would have done if he…" Melissa realized what she was about to say and blushed furiously.

Genie and Merrill looked at her curiously. "If he…what?" Merrill asked as she started to walk slowly to Melissa before sitting down at her side.

"Oh, I don't know what I'm talking about. Too much drink and everything." Melissa tried laughing it off, waving her hand in front of her as if what she had just said was foolishness.

"You didn't try to bed him, did you?" Genie asked the question that froze her on the spot, and her head drooped as her face took on the hue of a tomato.

"Jeez, Melissa." Merrill grinned deviously as she leaned back next to the priestess, deciding to tease her some more. "What was in your head? I mean, it's Louie of all people."

"Actually, I might have offered the same thing." Genie said as she leaned back, her breasts barely surfacing as she laid further back into the water.

"Not you too, Genie!" Merrill scoffed as she looked over at the warrior woman. "What the hell do you guys even see in him, anyways?"

Melissa decided that this was something she wasn't about to discuss with either of them. The alcohol had obviously loosened her tongue too much to be safe. "Can we please talk about something else? What if Louie was listening in on us?"

"I wouldn't worry about that." Genie said as she opened her eyes and looked to the stars once more. "You said it yourself, Melissa. He has standards." She glanced over to the priestess and the thief. Melissa was nodding self consciously to herself while Merrill simply shrugged. "Merrill doesn't see what we do cause Louie isn't made out of gold coins."

"And what do you see in him then?" Merrill said, her anger getting the better of her as she crossed her arms in front of herself and dared Genie to talk.

Genie explained to them about the ambush behind Rydon's house and how her clothing nearly had a wardrobe malfunction and about how Louie's body was doing well enough to let her know that she was at least desirable. She didn't notice the dirty looks she was receiving from Merrill and Melissa.

"And I thought Celecia was bad that time we went to the mage's tower to get the weather back on track." Merrill muttered darkly, eliciting a nod from Melissa.

"Can you honestly say you've had better luck getting his attention?" Genie said over to Merrill, who could only sniff and turn her head.

"I can't believe we're arguing over a man." Melissa decided to try to get them to stop talking about Louie altogether by bringing them under a common cause. "We never needed a man before, and now one is coming between us."

"Maybe I'd like to have a man rescue me from time to time, ok?" Merrill nearly shouted as she dared Genie or Melissa say anything to that. "I mean, just because Louie did that for me doesn't mean I don't like him any less, but he didn't have to get himself nearly killed for me."

"Well, that just goes to show you that my training saved his life." Genie smugly shot back as she smiled like a wolf. "I wonder what else he needs training in?"

Merrill and Melissa stood up quickly, water splashing down them as they started to move toward Genie when the door leading to the changing room opened and in walked the innkeeper. "Are you friends of the long haired man?" she asked them as they came to a stop and turned to her.

"Yes, we are." Melissa said, thanking the woman for stopping the fight that nearly broke out.

"You may want to go back over to the tavern then." The woman spoke cryptically, elaborating only a moment later. "Your friend decided to go back to the tavern and get into a fight with several men. Rydon advised me to come get you as he rushed off to stop the fight."

Genie stood up with a grim look on her face as she walked over to her friends. "He planned this." She muttered darkly.

"I'd say he did." Merrill said as her hand twitched.

"We did teach him well, didn't we?" Melissa also had a dark look on her face that was in direct contrast to her priestly ways.

"So, what are we going to do about him?" Genie said as she waited for the answer she knew was coming.

"Teach him a lesson he'll never forget, then show him exactly how to throw a punch." Merrill nodded emphatically as

"Great Mylee, guide our arm in battle and protect us from the wrath of our enemies." Melissa prayed without clasping her hands, taking the first steps toward a fight that was wholeheartedly necessary.

* * *

**I decided to get a little perspective in this chapter. Who, honestly, runs around with three women on adventures and doesn't fall in love with them, or they with him in the long run? If I get no opinion's from anyone on who Louie should be with, I'm going to put him with whoever I feel like it.**

**Louie: You make it sound like I am some piece on a chess board instead of a person.**

**G.B.: I can possibly be worse than a man named Rokubungi when I so choose to be. Patience is a virtue, and is the worst of weapons when used against someone. (puts his hands together in front of his face, peering over his finger through his glasses)**


	23. Chapter 22

**I finally got some kind of idea on who I should stick Louie to. I'm not saying anything more about that other than what comes next...**

**Disclaimer: I don't own hangovers, but if I did, can you imagine how rich I could be? I could finally say I own Rune Soldier, but I don't yet...**

**G.B.: This one goes out to you, Duke of no Money. I only hope this is close to being entertaining.**

**Merrill: Exactly what do you mean by sticking Louie with one of us?**

**Genie: I'm not exactly sure I like how you phrased that...**

**Melissa: This is totally against my will...**

**WARNING! Now entering a chapter full of suggested sexual contact, actual sexual contact, and close proximity nudity. Rated M means Mature Readers. 18 years of age or older, please, or get your parents permission. (I would prefer only people 18 and older, but I don't want people complaining)**

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Louie's head was throbbing. He didn't remember much of the fight, but he did remember that he was dishing the hurt out more than he was getting it. Glancing around the room, he didn't recognize the room he was in, and the window was larger than the one in his room back at Rydon's. Inhaling deeply where he laid, he smelled the cook fires of the inn. He saw a shadow through a paper thin screen door of a person moving silently down the hall out the corner of his eye, the movement disorienting his hangover and himself.

He tried sitting up, feeling gravity pulling at him tenaciously. He relaxed and surrendered to it for a moment, vowing to fight it again once he had gained more strength and when his body stopped betraying him. His mouth was dry, dirt could only be wetter as he already imagined the first sip of tea downstairs in the dining area of the inn. Figuring now was as good a time as there was to rebel against gravity, he attempted to sit up when he caught the smell of perfume nearby.

He blinked his eyes dumbly, wondering how he was able to smell anything with the hangover of all time filling his head, then realized it was a familiar scent. He would have still been trying to figure where he had smelled that particular scent from if not for the sudden bite on his leg. Jerking upright in pain, he reached for his leg on reflex only to pull up short when he realized a blue clad thief was wrapped around said leg, trying to eat his leg in her sleep.

"Damn it, Louie…" Merrill muttered quietly while she squeezed tighter to his leg. She muttered something incomprehensible as she adjusted herself against his leg before muttering something about hogging the food.

Fortunately, he was still dressed, or at least his breeches were still on, and so was his money sack. Reaching into it, he flicked a coin off the nearest wall and waited. The coin had only time to bounce once off the floor before Merrill detached herself from his leg and pounced the coin in a bleary eyed strike before she curled up where she landed and fell back asleep.

Not wanting to know why he had been sleeping with Merrill, let alone how he had managed the miracle of not getting killed by her, Louie turned on his side and placed his hand to the floor so he could lever himself up from the floor. Though he wanted to get up off the floor, the sudden iron grip around his wrist and the gut wrenching toss to the ground made his head ache and his vision dance.

"Louie!" A voice hissed above him as his vision started to clear, tears slipping from his eyes in pain. "What the hell are you thinking, waking me up like that?"

His vision slowly worked its way back to normal as Louie looked up into the tanned face of the woman warrior, Genie. Her hand was still tightly clenched around his wrist as she looked down at him with a bloodshot stare. Obviously, she had one too many last night as well, though she was sporting a bruise on her cheek.

"Genie?" Louie called to her dumbly from the floor and winced as his own words echoed in the hollowed fracture that was his head. "What happened to your face?" He reached his other hand up to her cheek, tracing his fingers against the bruise as he wondered what happened to her.

Her eyes suddenly looked surprised at the gentleness of his actions before she smiled warmly down at him, her hand on his wrist loosening up. "I guess you don't remember much of last night." She said to him, her voice dipping into a range he had never heard out of her before.

Merrill muttered something as she rolled over, brushing up against both Genie's and Louie's feet as she turned over unconsciously looking for warmth while she slept.

"I'm sorry to wake you up." Louie said as he looked up into her eyes, noticing she was looking at him in a way that would have been weird if his head would simply wrap itself around what was going on, and why his hand was playing with something soft. "I was going to get something for my headache." Genie was starting to lean down into him from above, only realizing that his hand was starting to put pressure into whatever was coming down on top of him. He started to look down at his hand as to why he was feeling pressure on it if his back was on the floor as he spoke. "I also needed something to quench my…"

It was only then that he realized what his hand had caught hold of when he was trying to lift up off the ground and why Genie woke up so abruptly. His hand was molded into Genie's chest tightly, his thumb absently rubbing over the crest of her top as he had been talking into her and from the look of her clothing, her body was starting to respond to its attention. Louie's eyes nearly came out of his head in panic as he looked back up into Genie's face, her lips nearly touching his lips.

"I don't know if it'll help your headache…" Genie began as her lips grazed his own, "but I know something that will quench your thirst."

Luck must have been smiling down on Louie at that moment as Merrill had returned back to the same place in her dream she had been but awhile ago as she wrapped her arms around the nearest thing she could find and bit down into it. Unfortunately for Genie who didn't wear leggings, Merrill's teeth bit down hard into her calf. Genie wrenched backwards and twisted to the side, reaching for the dreaming thief as she tried to pry her mouth from her leg, only to get fought back just as hard by the dreamer who was doing all she could to keep her meal away from her dream opponent.

Louie scrambled for the door, sliding it open and climbing to his feet as fast as he could as he sped away from the room and the racket the two friends were causing behind him. He only stopped when he jumped into the changing room for the bath, closing the door behind him and hiding behind one of the changing stalls reserved for the more modest people. Breathing heavily, he peered around the side of the stall back toward the hallway and the door that stayed blissfully shut.

He needed a cold shower, but seeing as the only water available was the bath outside, he took what he could get. He shed his clothing, now sweat soaked, and wrapped a towel around himself as he walked into the bathing area and headed for the small side where the soaps and rinse water was kept.

He sat down on one of the stools and pulled over a bucket and a bar of soap to use, filling the bucket quickly to douse over his head and back. He needed to purge his morning thoughts out of his head, and Genie was a lot of woman to purge. It took close to ten buckets of nearly freezing water before his body started to calm down out of its excited state before he started to lather and wash his body.

He wasn't exactly sure what had happened last night, but whatever had happened must have been some mad drunken emotional outburst or something to get Genie to suddenly act like that to him. There had never been any time when Genie had ever come on to him and he wasn't exactly sure what it was he was supposed to do about it. "I mean, she's a great woman." Louie thought to himself as he mentally debated to himself. "Totally strong and versed in several forms of combat, survived a war and numerous adventures with Merrill and Melissa."

"She is still a woman, though." Some other part of his brain seemed to speak up to him, playing counterpoint to his thinking. "Maybe she finally saw something in you that made her remember that she has needs."

Louie hesitated as his brain analyzed that thought, before throwing it out the window as he shook his head at himself. "That is the most self centered thought I could have possibly had. Genie is always a woman, she's just a warrior before anything else, but she's still a woman." He continued in his head as he scrubbed harder on himself for thinking like that.

Deciding that he couldn't sink any lower than being a chauvinist, Louie took another bucket and rinsed the soap from his body before getting up from the stool and walking over to the pool of water. He stepped into it, fully expecting it to be nearly ice cold to be surprised at the warmth that seemed to spread upward into him.

A low cover of fog made seeing across the pool hard to do, and he could only imagine that the innkeeper had found some way to warm the bathing water in some way for there to be a mist hanging over the water. It was a tad lower than what he was used to and he had to sit fairly back against the side to get the water up to his chest, but at least this way he could forget this morning's fiasco.

"Please, let my luck hold for the rest of the day." Louie muttered aloud, his voice barely carrying the length of the bathing area.

"Louie?" Melissa's voice called from the other side of the water, making him sit up straight in fear.

He could see her stand up and begin to look in his direction, though it was obvious that his hair color was mixing in with the haze and the rocks around him, making him hard to see. He knew she had heard him and figuring he'd had enough of a bath to manage being clean, he'd go back to Rydon's and change his clothing, all the while hoping that Merrill and Genie weren't looking for him.

"Sorry, Melissa." Louie said as he spoke over to her. "I didn't know you were in here. I'll come back later." He turned to step out of the water as he spoke.

"No, Louie. You don't have to leave on my account." Louie froze in place. Had he heard her correctly?" "I was just wondering if you were awake yet, or still sleeping off the fight from the bar when you spoke."

He remembered leaving the women here in the bathing section of the inn so that they could sober up some before sleeping off the effects of the night's drinking. The three men that had nearly accosted Melissa had pissed him off something awful, drunk as he was. It was one thing to hit on a woman, but to openly talk about her as if she was some sex starved girl had enraged him, and it had only gotten worse when they started on Genie and Merrill. No one talked about his companions like that to his or anyone else's face in his range of hearing and walked at all when he was through with them.

He had ran back into the tavern that was just starting to get things back under control when Louie saw the three that had tried to 'sweet talk' his friends some place indecent. He didn't hesitate to overturn the nearest table, then use it like a club as he swung it over his back and brought it down on the nearest of the three. The people at the table he had turned into a weapon had gotten pissed, while the surviving two had gotten up and come at him for interrupting their 'subtle' wooing.

"I guess I got a little carried away last night." Louie said as he averted his eyes down into the water in front of himself.

"I'm glad you did." Melissa said as her voice seemed to get louder. "I may have started the fight myself if I could have understood exactly what the man had been implying at the time being."

Louie's face hardened. "They shouldn't have spoken at all like that to you in the first place." He could feel anger starting to swell inside of him, demanding that he go and find those men once again.

"Thank goodness you were there, Louie." Her voice was definitely getting louder, and he was able to see the water ripping up against him. He lifted his eyes up toward where Melissa should have been at, only now noticing that she was walking toward him from the other side of the bathing area. "You truly are…my destined champion…"

Louie would have leapt to his feet and run if his brain could think. Blood rushed from the important organ only to go everyplace but where it needed to go as he watched Melissa approach. Her skin was the color of cream, her hair damp and bright with the brilliant sun that was beginning to crest overhead near midday. The fact that she didn't have a stitch of clothing on or a towel anywhere in proximity of her body didn't seem the least bit strange to him as his eyes found hers.

Her green eyes shone with happiness, and something else that he couldn't name. Her cheeks shone bright red with her embarrassment, but it was her eyes that had Louie enthralled. He had never seen how clear her gaze was, or how the hair framing her face seemed to emphasize the brilliance of them to him before. Something in the back of his head that there was more to her than just her eyes, but it was killed in a very ugly matter by the rest of him as she came toward him, sliding down to her knees, then to her hands as she crawled toward him.

When her hand touched his leg, it was like lightning tore through him, jolting his brain back to life as it suddenly screamed escape. His legs locked tight, trying to push him back and away from her, only to press him firmly into the rock wall behind him. His hands instinctively reached to cover his manhood from her, embarrassed for himself and not wanting her to realize what his body was telling him he wanted right there and then.

She didn't stop crawling forward in the water to him until she had one leg all the way to the knee between her own legs, her hands reaching up to place them on his shoulders as he looked worriedly into her face. Her lips smiled in an assuring manner to him, trying to calm him down as she moved closer to him.

She called his name quietly and his brain shut down in disbelief at his luck today. It was at that moment that someone working in his nose registered the scent that had been previously been caught when he had awoken and had also seemed so familiar. Trying to communicate with the men upstairs and not getting an answer, they delegated some low tech to go up and report directly. Unfortunately, everyone was out on a lunch break, so he left them a note when they decided to come back that the perfume they smelled was coming from Melissa.

The bathroom door slid roughly open and Melissa's face when from assuring to horrified as she pressed herself down into Louie's body to hide herself against the wall of the bathing area. Her face lost all color when the voice called out. "Melissa, my love. Are you in here?"

Louie had never been so happy to hear Conrad's voice in his entire life. Someone up in heaven really was looking out for him. Conrad walked up to the edge of the bathing pool and peered out over the mist covered area, standing just above Louie and Melissa. Melissa nearly squeaked in embarrassment if Louie didn't cup his hand over her mouth and motion to be quiet.

"I could have sworn the innkeeper said she was in here." He looked around at the farthest edges of the pool, not bothering to look down at his own feet.

Louie could only stay still for Melissa's sake. She had left her towel somewhere and was naked, and being caught in the bath with him in such a state would not only look bad on her, but she would become a 'loose woman' in the eyes of the people. Not something a priestess of Mylee is called at any time.

"I must have missed her." Conrad was speaking to himself, his own personal epic recited by the only person able to speak about his greatness with any accuracy. "I must find her and rescue her from that cad Louie. He'll not deceive my true love with his false bravado and silver tongue when I arrive."

Metal steps clanking away in a rush, the armored boots of Conrad left them far behind as Louie peered up over the edge, watching as Conrad subconsciously slid the door closed behind himself without even looking over his shoulder. Sighing greatly, Louie took his hand away from Melissa's mouth as he fell back down into the water.

"Thank you, Louie." Melissa sounded like her true self as she embarrassingly thanked her friend. "I don't know what I would have done if he had caught me like this."

"Probably screamed your head off till Genie arrived and gutted him." Louie grinned with a smiled that seemed to stretch from ear to ear.

"Honestly." Melissa placed her shoulders and back against the wall next to Louie, one arm covering her breasts for modesty's sake. "Rushing into a bathing area that may have more than just me in it. Has he lost all tact he was raised with, or has his obsession gone beyond sane?"

"The guy's driven alright." Louie said, laying his head against the stones that were deliciously cool. "I can't fault him too much, though." Melissa looked up at him as if he was nuts. "I mean, a predestined marriage to a woman who is the perfect lady, I might go as mad as he is."

"Do you really mean that, Louie?" She was looking up at him, he could see it out of the corner of his eye.

Deciding now was as good a time as any to get out of dodge, Louie stood up and turned away from Melissa, both to shield her beauty from his eyes, and to not offend her modesty with his raging body. "I'm going to go ahead, give you time to get something on." He spoke to her as he stood out of the water and headed inside to the changing room. He didn't see the vexed look on her face as he walked away from her.

* * *

"When they get back, tell them where I went." Homun had packed up the last of his provisions, slinging the haversack over his shoulder as he looked over at Rydon.

"Must you rush off without waiting for them?" Rydon stood in the doorway, blocking his escape and trying to talk sense into the man.

"The mercenaries are leaving today, most of them have already gone." Homun stepped by the brawny dwarf, heading for the front door. "Celecia can track me as far as she needs to find out where I'm going, but she needs to eventually come back and tell them where Dardanel is going to meet us at."

"This is a bad plan. It's Suicide!" Rydon gripped Homun's arm tightly, nearly wrenching the arm out of it's socket. Homun looked down at him with a cool gaze.

"Lyssa will not kill me." Homun spoke matter of factly.

"You wish that were true." Rydon tried to impress upon him that it really was just a hope.

"I'm going." Homun took his arm back forcefully, jerking it from Rydon's grasp. He walked out the door without a backwards glance.

Rydon stared at the door for minutes afterwards, gripping the medal of Mylee around his neck at last. "Great Mylee, if you have never heard my voice before, then please give ear to me now. Please, protect Homun from what he is about to face. He will need your grace now more than ever…"

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**Can it be called a Harem with only three women, or is it just a foursome? Uninterested minds don't want to know! Yes, I know, not like there was anything more than suggested, and he was running away from all of them, but you just can't throw a person into something like this when for the first part of the story, they kept it somewhat comfy but no kisses or hugs or anything! Hell, there wasn't even any booty shakin goin on up til now! I may not know what I'm doing, but I'm doing it the best I can here, Folks!**


	24. Chapter 23

**Time to get back to the killing, not in this chapter just yet, but definitely time to winnow out the enemies until only Dardanel remains. Also time to get some kind of relationships going as well. Definitely going to be some female infighting from now on until one (or all) remains.**

**Disclaimer: My Declaim to Fame starts here. I Own Nothing, Therefore, I Am Famous! Rune Soldier is owned by someone other than me, but I'd give props to those who would want to write a variation of my own story.**

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"How long ago did he leave?" Louie said as he adjusted the cloak to his back. He watched Rydon who was looking at him in a disappointed manner.

"An hour, at most." Rydon spoke grudgingly. "I suppose your going to go after him."

Louie didn't have to answer, his simple check of sword and staff on his body was all the answer Rydon needed. He slipped his best pair of boots on before donning his gloves and bracers overtop of those.

"Would you at east wait for your friends to join you?" Rydon tried asking him once again, much the same way that he had tried to stop Homun. He got about as much effect from asking Louie as he did his friend.

"About that." Louie suddenly hitched slightly before going on. Turning his head with a weak smile on his face, Louie asked, "Could you not say anything to them about where I went to?"

"You're both madmen." Rydon shook his head in a disappointed manner. "Do both of you have a death wish?"

"I will be dead when they find out where I went." Louie thought to himself as he stood up and tested the fit of his boots by stamping his heel gently. "I'm going now." Louie spoke to Rydon as he opened the front door.

"Mylee does not smile down on fools." Rydon spoke in a disparaging voice to Louie's back.

"He does help those who are destined champions." Louie called back as he headed out for the main gate of the town, walking toward destiny.

* * *

Merrill, Melissa, and Genie all sat around a table at the halfway repaired barroom of the tavern in town that night, all thinking about how their encounter with Louie had gone that day. Melissa's head was off in the clouds as she remembered how Louie had kept her out of sight from her stalker, Genie was thinking about how she had almost seduced Louie, and Merrill on her missed chance to show Louie what a real woman is.

"Louie's in hiding." Merrill spoke the observant, yet emotionless point of their musings.

"We did come on a bit strongly to him." Melissa said as she took her cup in both of her hands and brought it to her lips so she could hide the blush that was coming to her cheeks.

"He is just a man, after all." Genie pointed out the glaring problem with all men, their lack of courage.

"Some of us came on a bit stronger than the rest of us." Merrill eyed Genie cattily while Genie took a swig from her own drink.

"You're just upset that I got farther than you could." Genie said as she spoke behind her cup inbetween drinks. "The closest you got was groping his leg and biting a hunk out of mine."

"I told you, I was asleep." Merrill grabbed her cup and drained it in one go before slamming it down on the tabletop. "If I had been awake, I would have taken advantage of him like you did."

"Is it wrong to exploit the weakness of your enemies?" Genie asked, a challenging glare being shot at Merrill who stood upon her chair and placed one leg on the tabletop.

"It is when it's rape." Merrill challenged right back, pulling back the sleeve of her coat as she balled her hand into a fist.

"This isn't helping anything." Melissa nearly shouted as she slammed her cup into the tabletop, making them break their gazes at each other. Merrill sat back down into her chair with a huff while Genie seemed to physically relax in her seat.

Melissa looked back and forth from one friend to the other before sighing. "I can't believe a man has come between us. Especially Louie."

"Before we allowed him to join our group, we never imagined that we would need a man, much less want one." Genie said as she crossed her arms underneath her ample bosom, seeming to support her chest with her arms.

"Speak for yourself." Merrill said as she leaned back in her chair and placed a foot on the table top as she leaned back. "Men have their uses." She had a dirty smile on her face as she continued. "Some are better than others."

"That's nothing to brag about, Merrill." Melissa spoke with a dismissive tone, though her face was flush with embarrassment.

"I can't say I've had a memorable moment with a man, unless it was fighting." Genie said as she leaned forward, supporting her upper body with her arm as she laid her chin in her hand. "Not enough stamina." She said with disappointment in her eyes.

Melissa's face started turning bright scarlet as both Merrill and Genie looked at her for her own confession. Unable to think of anything to say, she fiddled with her hands in her lap and tried to discern the texture of the tabletop through intense scrutiny.

"I…" Melissa began as the stares continued. "I was saving myself for the right moment." Her voice was little more than a whisper when she finally spoke.

"Now I understand why you ride Louie so hard." Merrill spoke as she received a new cup of beer and took the first drink from it. "So to speak." She added afterward after Melissa gave her a mortified glare.

"No wonder the house of Mylee is mostly made up of women." Genie said as she took another drink from her cup before ordering another from the barmaid. "Can you imagine the men being afraid for their lives and their bodies in a church of neophyte women?"

"They'd be happy men, at least." Merrill mused, starting to feel the effects of the alcohol. "Do you suppose there is a magical contraceptive?"

"Moving on to _other_ subjects." Melissa harrumphed as she ended that direction of talk. "Has anyone seen Homun?"

"Like them dark and intimidating, huh?" Merrill teasingly jibed at her before becoming serious. "You know him, he appears and disappears when he gets the urge to."

"Still," Genie said as she looked around at the tavern barroom, "It's unusual for him to miss out on all the warriors. He should be trying to find out why they are here and where they are going."

"He's probably out at the camps outside of town hobnobbing with the mercenaries and trading war stories." Merrill offered a possibility then assumed another of her catty smiles. "Maybe we should be out there as well…"

"It might be good for Melissa if we took her along." Genie looked over to their cleric friend, Merrill's own eyes following hers. "Maybe we can find her a page that could be gentle with her."

Melissa stood up with an upset grimace on her face and would have had some choice words to say if the blonde elf girl, Celecia, didn't burst into the tavern from outside looking like she had run from some great distance. She looked around the bar till she found the three women sitting at the table and came over to them as fast as she could while still panting.

"I've been looking all over for you guys." She spoke out of breath as she tried talking. Melissa gave her the chair she had stood up from and offered her a drink of the alcohol in front of her.

"What happened?" Melissa rubbed her back to try and calm her down as she waited for the answers to come. "What has you out of breath?"

"Homun." Celecia gasped out as she took a second drink from the cup and tried to calm her racing heart. "He had me follow him."

"Follow him?" Merrill perked up some, hearing that. "Where was he going that he needed you to follow him?"

Celecia was starting to get her breath back and the alcohol was warming her up some, but she needed a second to compose herself before she continued. "Homun headed off to the main camps of the mercenaries which are about half a day away from here. He figured that they were being brought together for a war and that Dardanel may have been funding them."

"Makes sense." Genie said as she sat back in her chair and crossed her arms again. "He tried taking the throne from King Rijarl, it would make sense that he would attempt again."

"He said I was to head back and let you guys know if something was happening with the camp, like where they were headed or if anyone else came from someplace else, y'know, under guard." Celecia gestured with her hand in a vague way, still a bit flustered with what had happened.

"It must have been something big if you came running back as fast as you did." Melissa said as she watched her settling down.

"The first few hours were nothing to talk about, mostly sitting and watching all those people gathering together in one spot, like migrating tribes coming together." Celecia took a longer drink from the cup, nearly emptying it in one go. "It was near midday when it happened."

"What happened?" Genie asked, looking closer to Celecia's face to try to read what she was about to say in her facial features.

"There was an explosion in the middle of the camp." All three women looked at the elf girl slightly confused. "Something magickal was set off in the middle of the camp and consumed everything in a huge explosion."

"What happened next?" Melissa asked, dreading hearing what happened next.

"There was nothing left." Celecia finished off the cup and took Merrill's from her slack hand. "Not even grass was left once the light faded. It was just…gone."

"That's a horrible way for warrior's to die." Genie said, her voice a bit disgusted.

"The explosion doesn't matter!" Celecia shouted, causing everyone in the bar to look at her weirdly. Looking at Genie, Merrill, and Melissa with a serious stare, Celecia dropped a bomb in their midst. "Before the explosion happened, I saw Louie walking into the camp!"

* * *

Homun stood at the center of the explosion, or what was the equivalent of a meteor strike the size of a wagon cart. Seeing as he had been at the center of untold destruction before, this was something new to him. Mounds of corpses still bleeding away the life's blood that had once flowed in their veins in life would spill to the thirsty ground that would drink away the wetness of their bodies. Worms would cheer to the gods for the feast of plenty that would come when man would fight man or beast and one or the other would be slayed. He had even been the sole survivor of more than one occasion when a magickal spell had decimated legions of people.

He could only think of one thing as he stood at the center of this natural or unnatural disaster. He thought death would be a lot more quieter.

And a lot more dead.

People stood around in either drunker stupors or stared around as if the wrath of the Gods had reached down from the heavens and smote them, only that they were still there long after the light had faded. Homun had sensed the magickal explosion build almost instantaneously and he knew that it would destroy miles of wilderness, not to mention the barely human people gathered around him.

If this is what death was like, he figured he was going to have to kill somebody.

"Warriors!" A voice echoed throughout the camp, amplified by magickal means, but coming from nowhere he could feel. The spell was too large over too far an area. "Welcome to the ranks of the winning side! As of today, you will be the few who will be needed to lead my legions of monsters and men to our rightful destinies!"

Homun watched many of them turn and pull weapons on each other, thinking it was one of their own that had cast such a powerful spell, and there were others who had dropped everything and began to run for the far edges of the camp, hoping to get away from the demon magick that had done this to them all. Homun could hear the brief screams of madness, and feel the magickal surge of energy as their bodies disintegrated into dust at the borders of the camp.

"Pease don't try to head back into town or leave the camp as the borders are guarded from having anyone leaving and telling anyone outside of our plans. We wouldn't want anyone in a drunken confession tell about our glorious plans, now would we?" The man's voice was laughing maniacally, as if slightly messed in the head. "Food and wine shall be provided for you, women and entertainment are yours to have and to indulge in, just as long as you don't try to leave camp."

The magical spell that surrounded the area dimmed slightly, obviously powering down enough to not be active, but to be used in listening in when needed. This was going to be a problem for him. Walking around the camp slowly, he began to see what was actually happening in some of the areas that weren't panicking like most of the mercenaries.

The professionals, the ones who had been mercenaries longer than most of the rank amateurs that had come at the mention of payment and gold were simply sitting where they had made their camps at. They watched, they waited, and they sized up the opposition around them. In this case, anyone that wasn't them.

He moved from one spot to the next, measuring out the size of the spell and counting the ones that were still alive. He also made a mental note about those that still attempted to sneak away from the camp and cross the border where the explosion had scoured a ring around the camp only to incinerate instantly and fall to dust in a flash. Magic that destructive and thorough was very powerful.

It was only when he was starting his fourth pass through the camp when he noticed a fight in progress with someone he hoped wouldn't be here. The mage, Louie, was facing off against many of the younger mercenaries who had either calmed down, or decided to act as if this was something they were used to.

"Did you have something to do with this, mage?" One of the younger and lesser experienced men, nothing more than a kid, was standing in front of him with a clenched fist.

"I'm saying this is nothing." Louie said as he cupped his hands behind his head and looked to the sky as if nothing bothered him. "This is just another adventure to me."

"Come again?" The man took hold of Louie's shirt by the collar and tugged him down toward his face. Louie smiled snidely in the guy's face, still not scared of the poor kid.

"Fredrick, let him go." A man walked over to them looking like a scarred wreck of a person. He had a chest plate with a whole in it from what looked like a battering ram had punched through it, shoulder pieces that didn't matched and were even cracked and falling to pieces, and missing part of his nose, giving him a cadaverous look. "If he really was the mage that did this to us, would he really be among us?"

"Did what to us?" Louie looked at the guy cluelessly. He walked up and took the hand from Louie's shirt, smoothing out Louie's shirt in the process.

"Sealing us in with each other, with no food or booze immediate, nor anyone to play with." The guy smiled up in Louie's face though the smile was fake. "After all, we're grown men, and grown men need their entertainment."

The man had motioned at Louie, though Louie never saw it. Thankfully, Homun was close by to Louie when he was or Louie would be dead. Homun pulled Louie back from the strike and attacked the mercenary, using his fingers to claw into the chest of the mercenary and gouging deep wounds into the chest. The man gasped out in pain and jerked backwards, making room between him and Homun while Louie looked surprised to see Homun.

"Who the hell are you?" the man asked as he slid a dagger from behind him, making the other one in his hand look plain compared to the edged tool in his hands.

"Your death if you try that again." Homun had seen four men in his periphery move when he had assaulted the scarred man, and that didn't include Fredrick or the two other that now stood at the shoulders of the scarred man.

"Do you know who I am?!" The man shrieked as his eye flew wide in anger and spit flew from his lips.

"Your name wouldn't happen to be lucky, would it?"

"I'll remember this, bastard! Watch yourself!" He shouted as he took his hand away from the wound, licking at his own blood on his fingers.

Louie came up behind Homun and walked up next to him. "Is this where it's going to happen at?" Louie didn't glance over at Homun, to which Homun did the same.

"It will be soon." Homun spoke softly as he watched the men walk away. "They'll let the men kill each other off, waiting to see who the smartest and strongest are. Then they'll appear."

"What do we do until then?" Louie said as he turned in place, keeping his back to Homun as he looked behind them both.

"Survive." Homun said as he walked away from Louie, leaving him to do as best as he could.

* * *

**I'm not a liar in the regards to the top, now am I? Infighting between the three women, fighting with the mercenaries, and now they are seperated from each other. How long can Louie survive amongst the mercenaries, and will Homun save him every time or not? Which of the women will eventually win Louie's heart, or will Louie be able to choose between the three of them?**

**G.B.: If I were him, I'd bag all of them.**

**Merrill: Pervert...**

**Genie: Pig...**

**Melissa: Totally against my will...**

**Conrad: How dare you try to touch my sweet Melissa, you cur! (reaches for his sword and tries to pull it free)**

**G.B.: I am so going to find a way to neuter you...**


	25. Chapter 24

**I've been having a moment of lucidity that is strangely disturbing. I keep having these moments where all makes sense in the world and that what I have been living is the shallow dream of one's fantasy world run mostly of foodstuffs that come in various shapes, flavors, and coloring. Anyone who is anyone must have wondered at least once why anyone would want to eat something that tells you right on the manufactural tag that they prostrate themselves on the ground.**

**Disclaimer: Drug induced euphoria aside, I Do Not Own Rune Soldier nor own the right to mock Lay's and all their foodstuffs that they make for the masses.**

**G.B.: Cooking food for a change doesn't mean I'm betraying you, junk food!**

**Conrad: Who are you talking to?**

**G.B.: It's the carbs! The Carbs speak to me in the language of deep fried sour cream goodness!**

**Conrad: Have you tried not eating your Gods?**

**G.B.: Apples scream when you bite into them...**

* * *

"I have to say," Louie chewed on a shank of meat as he watched the people around the campfire, "They do know how to take care of a guy around here."

It wasn't the men Louie watched around the campfire, but the women who had mysteriously appeared from the outskirts of the camp and tended to every whim that the men had. Some had accepted or flat out ignored the women and their gifts. Many others had taken up their offers enthusiastically, taking them some place out of sight or many times right where they were and doing whatever tickled their fancy at the time.

One guy had even asked to be tied up and treated worse than a pet animal. It didn't help that he asked the meekest looking girl out of the entire bunch.

The women ranged in ages from barely legal to old enough to be someone's grandma. Some were endowed appropriately, some not some endowed, and some just ridiculously endowed. Each man in the camp assumed that they were being lulled into a weakness, to cull them out further from their previous ranks, yet the women neither defended themselves nor did they turn anyone down for anything.

In a word, they were obedient.

Homun sat close to Louie who had been attacked several more times since he had last seen him. Louie had managed to fight off most of them till a veteran had taken offense to having a whelp of a mercenary knocked over on top of him from one of Louie's patented punches. When the mercenary had stood up, Homun had just walked up from behind the man and calmly ripped his heart out through his back with his bare hand.

They had been left alone ever since.

"Why are you here again?" Homun asked Louie with exasperation oozing from his voice.

"I'm waiting for an opportunity to present itself." Louie muttered around another mouthful of meat as he chewed while talking, making his words sound garbled beyond everything imaginable. "You and I both know that this is the best chance to get what we came for."

Homun had tried to warn Louie about eavesdropping from the spell that still clung to the camp. Threatening to hurt him got Louie to finally stop shouting about Dardanel and his lackeys after the second try.

"At least you realized that much." Homun looked at Louie as if he was starting to see something from the mage. "Now if you'd only think about what they're feeding you."

Louie looked quizzically at Homun with his mouth biting into the meat in his hand.

"The food could be drugged." Homun said simply.

"You're doing that on purpose, aren't you?" Louie asked as he tossed away the half eaten shank, getting a squeal from behind him as the shank nearly landed on someone. "Trying to make things worse than what they already are." Louie continued as if it wasn't obvious.

"Should I comment about what I think about the women, then?" Homun said as he looked around at all the girls passing by, some with decent clothes on, and some with barely anything at all.

"Oh, please do. I'd hate for you to miss an opportunity to ruin that as well." Louie said as he waved his hand in a general direction toward the women before them.

"You're mocking me?" Homun spoke flatly, observing the women passing both of them by.

"Nothing else to do except mock." Louie said as he folded his arms before himself sullenly. "Can't even eat now." He muttered darkly, missing the haunch of meat he had previously been eating on.

"If it was poisoned, you'll be dead soon as well." Homun spoke the obvious out. "Everyone in camp has had something to eat, all but the women, that is."

Louie gave Homun a dark glare. "You could have said that before I threw away my food. I had to wait forever for someone to bring me one."

"I noticed that as well." Homun muttered quietly as he watched the women tend to the other men in their on ways. "It's almost as if…"

"Can I help you men out in some fashion?" a woman with blonde hair like that of Melissa, dressed like Genie, and sounding pretty close to Merrill asked them from behind where they sat. Both Louie and Homun turned from where they were sitting to look at her.

"Is it possible to get another shank of meat?" Louie asked hopefully while Homun stared at the girl suspiciously.

Placing a finger to her chin, she looked upwards as if trying to look into her brain to see if the answer was there. "I'm not sure there is any left, but I can try to find one for you." She made a sound as if wondering if it were actually possible before returning her green eyed gaze to the two of them. "Is there anything else I can help you with?" she asked hopefully, smiling the brightest smile she could for them while her hands rested on her knees.

"I suppose I can wait." Louie said, sighing dejectedly as he thanked the girl who was pouting to him. She looked at Homun with a distracted and confused look before she turned and walked off, looking for Louie's next meal.

"I need to check something." Homun said, but made no motion to leave Louie behind. He sat still as death with his arms crossed in front of him and looked daringly forward at no one.

Louie watched him for all of about ten minutes before he nudged Homun in the arm. "I thought you said you needed to check something." He asked, obviously confused as to why Homun had not moved yet.

Before Homun could move, a woman approached them from off in the camp. She was dressed in ragged clothing, holes eaten in patches in the clothes she wore exposing skin and threadbare fabric underneath. Dirty silver hair topped her head even as her face was hid behind her locks, face bowed down in acquiescence. She knelt before Homun, laying down the urn she had been carrying as if it was more important than herself.

"Fra'ou mir te desai, baes Homun ?" The woman spoke only to Homun and in a language that Louie had never heard before, though it spoke to him on a level close to his magick.

Homun didn't move an inch, though his eyebrows drew downward dangerously. Placing her wrists overtop one another, she raised her hands over her head in loose fists and continued speaking in her tongue while her gaze remained to the ground. "Paen'valar mthre, jzx qiej shedimiri…"

"Ieh!" Homun spat at the woman, hitting her hair where her face would be. She dropped her hands from above her head, laying them palm down on the ground before her.

Retaking the urn in her arms, she moved smoothly back to her feet and turned in spot before walking away in the direction she had come and disappearing back into the camp. Louie watched her go in confusion and turned to Homun who had a disgusted look on his face. "Old girlfriend?" Louie asked, wondering what it was he had just missed.

"It's nothing." Homun uttered in a dead voice, maintaining that deadly glare toward where the girl disappeared. "Nothing at all."

* * *

"It's pointless going out there." Rydon tried once again to calm the women adventurers down before they left for the remnants of the explosion area. "Magick powerful enough to kill Homun without him retaliating is beyond madness investigating."

"He's not dead." Melissa adamantly spoke, her eyes closed and her hands clasped before her as she prayed for good fortune for the women with her.

Genie was cinching the last piece of her meager armor on and picking up her weapons from the table to attack to herself. "If you've been around them as much as we have, you'd have a little faith." She said as she tied off the smaller sword to her hip.

"More like having our bad luck to be involved with these dangerous situations." Merrill said as she flipped a dagger idly in the air before her, catching the pommel deftly in her hand before tossing it back up in front of her. "We seem to draw this type of stuff to us on a regular basis."

Celecia stood in the doorway, taking up the spot where Homun would stand if he were there. She wasn't nearly as sure as the rest of them were, but she was needed to show they were the attack had happened at, and that was exactly what she was going to do.

Melissa stood up and turned to the gathered people. Looking at Merrill and Genie who gave her a nod before they grabbed the last few items and headed out the door, they followed the blonde elf girl. Rydon sighed, wondering if Mylee was trying to give him a sign that he was too old to listen to anymore and his advice wasn't worth anything. He followed them out in front of the church that was his house and place of worship.

"You know what needs to be done if we don't come back?" Genie asked Rydon as he came out the doorway and out to the front step.

"Aye. Send a letter immediately to Ohfun that a new weapon has been developed and may be on its way to being used on the kingdom." Rydon muttered half heartedly. He looked at the determination on all of their faces. "You don't doubt for a moment that they're still alive, do you?"

"It's not doubt we believe in." Merrill said, a smile gracing her lips but not touching her eyes.

"We believe in Louie." Genie said, a smirk coming to her face.

"That's all that makes the difference for us." Melissa said as she bowed once more to Rydon. "If we don't come back, thank you for allowing us the room and food. Your hospitality was beyond gracious."

Rydon sighed, scratching his hair roughly in frustration before looking at them all. "I'll not say goodbye to any of you. What I will do is make sure your beds are ready for you when you return."

"We'll try to hurry back then." Genie spoke for all of them as Merrill waved goodbye to Rydon. With that, the women all turned and began their march for the area where Homun and Louie had last been seen alive.

Rydon felt the ages press down on him as despair tried to latch hold of his old frame. Everyone who had come into his house was leaving him to head off on fool's errands. Even Homun had left chasing after a dream he couldn't let die in peace. He wondered if this was how a mother felt when their child headed off following their dreams. Knowing what may very well await their discovery, Rydon could only shake his head.

"Good luck girls." Rydon said as he turned back for the confines of his house. "I hope you find what you're looking for."

* * *

Louie sneezed loudly.

Homun looked at him with a distracted look in his eyes while Louie sniffled and wiped at his nose with his hand. "I am bored out of my mind." He muttered quietly as he slumped where he sat.

"Practice your magick." Homun muttered back at Louie, obviously fed up with having to be here with him.

"Doing that tires me out, and I need all the concentration I can manage to practice." Louie looked around them at the other mercenaries that were either asleep or indulging their desires from the women. "I think I'd rather have an ear out for anything coming at us."

"I'll be right here, and no one's that dumb to try something." Homun stood up and looked around, trying to gauge which ones would be the worst to deal with, and trying to not think little of them for being under his skill.

Louie, not exactly sure if he trusted Homun, closed his eyes while resting one hand on the pommel of his sword. He called to the powers held within the shard inside his sword, not wanting to make anyone extremely nervous with any possibility of magick usage in their presence.

Homun watched as Louie slipped into a meditative state, keeping an eye out for the girl who had tended to him before, and the one that had tried to 'tend' to him. He understood what the magick was now, the one that wouldn't go away. Let the humans lust drive them into submissiveness, their minds were weak things anyways and he had no loyalty to any of them.

It wasn't long before the girl appeared again, the one that had been interested in Louie. She had been off to Homun when she had first appeared, and now he knew why. The magicks keeping them imprisoned here also fashioned the girl of a person's fondest wishes, in Louie's case, a hybrid of the three women he had traveled with. Louie probably couldn't separate the women in his heart from one another and the magick had not been fine tuned enough to create the three Louie most wanted, instead of making a conglomeration of the three in one body.

He didn't waste a moment's time as she approached them, moving to intercept her so that Louie would not have to hear or see what was going to happen next. The girl didn't put up a modicum of defense for herself, didn't even gasp or utter a word in pain as Homun cut her head off in the quickest motion he could. It fell amongst a few men's cookfire, to which they drew their weapons and glared darkly at Homun.

The body fell limply to the ground and fell apart into a reddish liquid reminiscent of blood, but too watery to be anything but a Homunculus blood. Seeing the body suddenly fall apart, the men rose from where they were and attacked Homun, drawing the eyes of several other men. Homun had been looking for some way to release the burning anger in his body since creating the woman earlier, these men would have to do.

Daggers flew readily from the tips of his fingers as they ran at him as he sent death screaming toward their targets, and only two were agile enough to avoid the sure grave the small metal weapons would have sent them to. The daggers hit two more of the magicked women who fell to pieces much as the first one had and brought their outraged men toward the fighting. Homun pulled two short swords from off his shoulders and made to flourish them as one charged in on this act of taunting.

The flourish changed instantly from a grand and showy motion to a hand liberating act as the wrist was severed, followed by a second that took the arm at the elbow, and a third that took the head. Homun ducked under the slash at his back and leapt off his feet, spinning flatly through the air as if dancing away from the man before pivoting on his foot and turning over on himself as he leaned back and spun his arms above and behind him, taking the man in the stomach.

The man still had the presence of mind to reach for himself, fighting off the pain and the sudden debilitating weakness that sprung up from the ground through his legs. The two men came at Homun from his front and forced him to cartwheel over the crouched man, using him as if a springboard. Homun did them the honor of removing their roadblock as he punched through the man's back with one short sword and tossed more hand darts back into the face of the closest man.

Once again, one man survived while the other fell, and in so doing, wounded others nearby or decimated the Homunculus women which enraged the drunken men. Homun wasn't even breathing hard as he was watching those that stood up around him. He had forced the single man to drop his weapon before making his head see through with his second short sword. They circled Homun, some having daggers, some with longer swords and even a few weapons resembling spears with blades on the ends of them. A few had grabbed for their axes while others had grabbed for their clothes.

They were trained to pick apart their enemies from all sides, weaken them till they went down and then kill them in the most brutal fashion imaginable. They were paid well for their victories and even the eyes of the law were turned from them occasionally if they succeeded where other men failed. To Homun, they didn't stand a chance.

He reached up and unclasped the cloak from his shoulders as he reached for daggers just a hair shy of a regular sword. Giving them a feral smile that would be told of later as the Grin of Death, Homun took the fight to them all.

* * *

**Fast Food isn't so fast, and Pork Lo Mein is the food of the Gods, I tell ya! They need to have one of those all you can eat buffet of General Tso's Chicken and various other implements that compliment snow peas and water chestnuts!**

**What? ... What about the story being over?**

**Oh... I guess I could give a follow up... But who reads this junk anyways?**

**Anyways, Chapter 24 is in the bag and it should start to become a bit more obvious for those who have followed around what Homun's secret is. If not, I guess I could spill the truth about him soon enough. The girls didn't have such a big part in the story this time, but don't worry, they'll be back soon enough. Maybe then, Louie will be able to lay down some Luv on some of them fine ladies!**

**(gets death glares from off stage)**

**...I am so hungry...**


	26. Chapter 25

**Today I bring to you the origins of Homun and Lyssa. It will be but a brief glimpse by description, no flashbacks guaranteed. But first comes the blood and gore. It's an M Rated story for a reason.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the right to use anything Rune Soldier related, but I do reserve the right to butcher it to my specifications since I'm not making anything off of this but enemies (that is the way to right a disclaimer, right?)**

* * *

Louie was able to hold onto his meditation for a while, long after any normal person would have noticed the screaming, the bleeding, or the splatters of blood that hit him in the face as a wicked attack opened another man into death's embrace. It was when a severed arm landed in his lap did he finally come to, and then he wondered what was going on before he froze in abhorrence.

Homun danced amongst the carnage, moving one way and then turning into a whole new direction as he slayed everything that came close to him. Hands were severed, arms opened up before chests followed suit, legs were broken with kicks or weapon strikes, he even stuck his short swords down into a man's shoulders long enough to knee him in the chest, then the face before he stomped on the knee and back flipped off the man as he fell to the ground.

The fighting had spread everywhere. Men fought men over women, food, money, even bothering them and their pleasures. Louie could only see fighting from one side of the camp to the other, the more deadly fighting at the borders of the camp where men leveraged others over the deadly edge into oblivion as the magicks maintaining the perimeter decimated anyone who crossed outside.

Louie had never thought something like this could ever exist. Hell was never supposed to be real.

Louie did the only thing he could do, he hid. Unaccustomed to fighting in such a large melee for one's life, Genie's training is about the only thing that was going to keep him alive. Stay in the blind spots of anyone who could be a threat to him and watch for the attack, step into the attack as if reckless and only when they thought you dead do you move. A few men did actually try and turn toward him to be struck down by others, some had come close enough to actually harm Louie only for him to step out of their ways at the last minute and punch them into unconsciousness.

He only pulled his sword out when he didn't have a choice in the matter. A few older vets of fighting could two or three shots from his fists, and at one time he had nearly been attacked from behind before he managed to get his weapon out and defend himself. He had gotten out of their ways afterwards and let them tear themselves apart, but he couldn't put his weapon away. Wanting to survive was having him use everything he had in him to do what he could.

He wouldn't use his magick unless absolutely necessary, casting any spell would be like fighting for hours and he couldn't pass out anytime soon. Plus, add to the fact that there were a lot of men to fight off, it would be a near miracle if he could survive at all, but he was going to need to stay focused for as long as he could. Homun would have to survive on his own for as long as the mercenary could, but somehow Louie didn't think that was going to be a problem.

In truth, the fighting was already starting to die down in spots, one that Louie was in fortunately. He didn't think he could kill anyone, not after what had happened to that kidnapper. He held his spot and watched everyone around him as swords were held in tense hands and a tentative peace came over some of them.

"Why the hell are we fighting each other anyways?" Someone shouted from out in the crowd, someone Louie couldn't see.

"Why shouldn't we fight?" Someone shouted nearer to him, but still unable to see the man. "It'll mean more money for the survivors if some of the pretenders are cut down!"

"Who said we were going to get paid anything, anyways?" A third voice called out, this time behind Louie. Louie could see this one, a man dressed all in shaggy furs and boots with bear claws still attached to the toes. "I came for the killing, not the money."

"There will be plenty of killing to be done in the war ahead." The first voice called out again, the sounds of fighting starting to die out. "With this many people, nothing short of a war would bring us all together."

"They why stop here?" A fourth man started to call out as the sounds of metal on metal rang out with his voice. "Why not bathe the world in the blood of the defeated, right here, right now?"

"There will be plenty of time to kill each other when we defeat our enemies or we are defeated ourselves." The first voice called out again, styming the cheers that were starting to be roused with the thought of carnage. "We can kill each other to our hearts content once we do what we're being paid for. Then we can be rich and victorius!"

"I told you!" The man in the black furs shouted above everyone in a bestial challenge. "Money holds no sway in my heart! Only the death of anyone who stands before me!"

As he raised both arms into the air above his head, he shouted out a bellow that would have shaken the nerves of those around him if the bellow had not turned into a scream. His stomach exploded outward near the navel with twin tips of steel before they sheared in two separate directions and severed upper body from lower. As his upper torso fell from his lower, a blood soaked Homun stood overtop of him as he gasped for his last breaths.

"Enemies standing in front of you are not as deadly as those that stand behind you." Homun whispered out a taunt with eyes that were dead. Blood painting his face in a callous mask of death as Homun impaled both arms just above the wrists to the ground and proceeded to flay the man with a dagger, prolonging his pain by mere seconds before the screaming stopped.

Even those who were hardened to such acts of cruelty glared disgust at Homun who didn't acknowledge the glares he was receiving. He passed by Louie without giving him a second look and as he approached others they opened up for him as he walked by, not wanting to stand in the man's way. His face had gone from the cold uncaring to that of a smiling leer, eyes dead of all emotion.

The fighting ended not much longer after that. Many who had seen the beginnings of the fight were all dead and the rest were quickly getting drunk to forget the impossible that they saw. People's bodies didn't simply turn to liquid when they were killed, it was an impossibility, even for magick. They also wanted to stay away as far as they could from Homun who had an open space around him and Louie who wouldn't sit next to the mercenary anymore.

"That guy didn't deserve what happened to him." Louie started, giving Homun a challenging stare.

"Just like the man you fought didn't deserve to have his head blown off his shoulders?" Homun spoke levelly to Louie, which did more to him than a scathing remark would have. "I doubt he felt much, if you're wondering."

"What kind of a man are you?" Louie asked in a disgusted manner. He couldn't meet the mercenary's gaze, not after a comment like that.

Homun was silent as he thought. It didn't really matter if he told the mage, but he was coming to like him in the fact that he was an idiot, and a clueless one. Ignorance really was a blessing from the Gods, was it right for him to scar him anymore than what he already had?

"How can anyone call you human after all of this?" Louie was looking around at the blood soaked ground. There were some men who had appeared with the return of the serving women, removing and discarding the body parts, or simply burning them away with a cantrip or two for the smaller, bloodier pieces that were missing from some of the corpses. There wasn't much they could do for the crimson ground.

"If anyone has called me human," Homun began slowly, looking down at the ground in front of himself, "then they obviously don't know what I am.'

Louie looked at him as if he didn't understand, or that Homun was just making something up for him.

"We're near our goal." Homun said as he sat up and looked at Louie with a serious stare. "If you really want to know the devil's secret, I can tell you. I promise, though, that you will never look at me the same afterwards."

Louie wasn't sure what that meant, and he wasn't exactly sure what Homun was trying to do here. Homun never spoke about his past to anyone, never saying anything about his history with Rydon or where he had come from. The only thing that he would ever say was that he was a mercenary and a Rune Soldier, whatever that meant.

Taking Louie's silence as a yes, Homun began.

"To understand what I am, you have to understand the era I came from." Homun looked down into the dirt between them. "You call it the Magick Wars in your history. For me, it was a time of birth."

Louie watched him as his face took on a whimsical look, as if remembering something he missed. "During the time of the Magick Wars, mages or every degree fought side by side with swordsmen and assassins, doing everything within the bounds of their talents to help their sovereign lord. In the end, men started to kill its species off the planet faster than children could be born to take the place of the deceased. They decided that they needed to supplement their armies with magickal creatures, where the first monsters started to come from."

"They started with the most simplistic of creatures, scavengers and flesh eaters, and set them loose in neighboring kingdoms. To say they worked better than expected was an overestimation." Homun chuckled at that, a mirthless croak of his throat as he continued. "Once the first monster was made, it opened the box that was never meant to be opened. God's domain had been broken into with the creation of a life and mankind did not stop there."

"Homunculus were soon made, living traps for armies to walk into or for people in power to be caught unaware. Because Homunculus could look like anything, from chests to pots to doors themselves, they started to get more and more complex. When they created the first human Homunculus, the war took a turn for the worse in the history books."

Homun's face turned serious and sad at the same time as he continued. "I was born sometime in the middle of it. "He gives a mirthless laugh to that. "Maybe born isn't the right word for it. Created would be a lot closer to the truth. The previous Homunculus had been hard to control and had no magick powers to speak of, so they modified us over and over again until they got it right. A merging of flesh and magic in a body that could never die, the perfect soulless doll."

To say that Louie was shocked was an understatement. His stomach knotted up in disgust tighter than anything he had ever known before. "Lyssa and I are the few remaining Homunculi of that era, maybe we are the last." Homun spoke softly, a prayer of sorts that their past was their own and the fate of no one else's. "We fought for nearly three hundred years, sometimes against each other, sometimes together, sometimes from behind the scenes where we'd never known about the other until the mission was over."

Homun looked up into Louie's eyes with something approaching pain. "Three hundred years is a long time to fight, a lot longer than a man could. Rydon I had the honor of knowing for the last fifty years of the fighting, the dwarves finally getting involved to put down what was left of the factions that wanted to stay separate from the whole that was forming out of the chaos. In that time, we started to develop morality and a sense of self, the one thing that would make us useless for the purpose of fighting."

Pain then did flicker in Homun's eyes long enough for Louie to guess at what he saw before Homun dropped his eyes back to the ground between them. "A weapon is never meant to think for itself, less it turn on the hand that wields it. Lyssa and I were the longest living Homunculi with magickal powers, surviving where others would have surely failed time and time again. Whether it was a side effect of the magick that flowed through us, or because we had lived for so long, we started to develop human needs and desires."

"Fearing that we would slip out of their control, we were sealed alive in places across what would later on become the lands of Ohfun." Homun shivered as he remembered the unending sleep. "We were only allowed to come out of our sleep when a job was too great for a human to do, and then were placed back into our hibernative sleep once the missions were completed. Tools bound to the magick they were born from."

Homun looked at Louie, locking his gaze with him. "Rune Soldier was to refer to the fact that Homunculus were nearly inconspicuous except for the rune engraved in their bodies over their hearts. When commanded in the old tongue, we were compelled to show our marks to any who spoke the words, thus giving away our identity. As time passed, no one knew the magickal words to command us with the compulsion that was put upon us in our sleep, nor did they remember how to wake us."

"Only when a cataclysmic magickal spell was cast were we to ever awaken, and then once we completed the cleansing of the activated magick and assassination of the spellcaster, we were to return back to our slumber to await the next time we awoke." Homun looked at Louie, holding his gaze. "Now you know." He said softly as he waited for what Louie would do next.

It was a little hard to grasp. Louie had heard of the legends of the Magickal Wars that had rage for half a millennia across the kingdoms, it was also known as the War of the Gods. He never imagined that there were people who would go so far as to create living weapons, but then again he had seen the homunculi that Foltess had been making for who he believed to be King Rijarl. Had that Homunculi Dragon been released unto the world, he could well imagine the destruction it would have caused to everything and everyone.

"So, what do you think?" Homun asked him, getting Louie's attention back on Homun.

"I think…" Louie didn't know what to think. A living, thinking, dispassionate Homunculus that had lived almost as long as written history? Scratch that. A living, thinking, starting to become human Homunculus that had lived as long as written history. If it wasn't for that fact that he had seen stranger things, he definitely wouldn't believe this. "I think I believe you." Louie spoke as he tried to change the subject.

"That's not what I was looking for." Homun said, not letting the subject drop so easily.

"What were you looking for then?" Louie was stalling, but he was still trying to wrap his head around it. A Homunculus that was becoming human.

"Am I an enemy now? Now that you know what both Lyssa and I are, can you continue to fight with me?" Homun knew this answer was going to be the deciding factor in Louie's life. If yes, for how long would they be on the same side. If no, well, Louie wouldn't live long enough to regret his decision.

"I think I don't have the right to make that decision." Louie said after a moment, getting a dirty look from Homun that spoke of levels of pissed off. "I mean, have you ever thought of me as an enemy? Even now, am I an enemy to you or not?"

This did catch Homun off guard. He had naturally assumed that Louie would make his decision flat out yes or no, but he had never thought that Louie would consider his own side of things. Homun knew that it wasn't fair for either of them to know about each other the way they did now, but there was a level of trust being offered here that Homun didn't offer ever. The kid did deserve it, after all.

"I'm not a human, Louie." Homun tried forcing him to make a decision once again, to hear him say his mind.

"You say that, but do you believe it?" Louie said as he looked down at his own hands. "I can't honestly say I understand you, and quite frankly, you scare the hell out of me. The life you've led is one I wouldn't be able to live, I'm sure of that. Now that you've got the chance to be a human, I don't have the right to say that you are wrong or right. I can only say that I hope you're my friend."

Homun grimaced at him. It was exactly what he thought it was. Louie didn't think of him as a creature, nor as another stranger, he thought of him as an ally. Homun had the same feeling for him, and that's what made it worse.

"Well, hell." Homun sighed as he scratched at the back of his head as he looked down at the ground again with the grimace burnt into his face.

As Homun raised his head, he felt the magick surrounding the camp disappeared entirely. Homun and Louie both came to their feet in an instant as they looked around in confusion. There could only be one purpose for the camp's perimeter disappearing as abruptly as it had, they were about to be graced with their enemy's presence.

"Warriors!" The voice of Dardanel called throughout the camp, yet no one could see him. "I come to you today to announce that the war is beginning immediately!" Homun focused tightly on the magick being projected into the camp, trying to find out where it was coming from and starting to get a sense of direction while Louie continued to use his eyes and ears. "Our weapons are ready for the march into Ohfun and this time we stand to lose nothing! Our victory shall be total over those who will be crushed under our foot!"

Homun's eyes snapped open as he grabbed Louie's arm and began to run with him for the edge of the camp before the spell containing them snapped down over the camp once again. Louie listened for a bit longer until the voice suddenly cut off in mid word, only then realizing that the spell was meant for only those in the camp, not for anyone outside of it. They continued to run until they were out of sight of the camp and into the nearest woods they could get to before Homun brought him to a stop.

"He's not too far away." Homun said, not even breathing hard, thought the sprint had clearly pushed Louie to gasp for air. "A mile at most, due east from the best guess I have."

"What about the army?" Louie asked s he glanced back at the survivors gathering everything as fast as they could and marching off southward for Ohfun.

"We can't stop both of them." Homun said as he looked eastward toward his prey. "Ohfun will just have to last until we can get there."

"As if our aid will make any difference." Louie said as he watched the last of the men finish gathering their supplies and march off.

"A warning would go a long ways toward preparing Ohfun to the attack on its way." Homun offered, wondering if there was any way he could help. He caught himself for a moment, realizing he was actually willing to help Louie save his home before he smiled ruefully.

"Is there magick that can do that?" Louie looked at Homun who merely shrugged. It was obvious to them that it was beyond their talents.

"Maybe we'll get lucky." Homun said as he helped Louie up before he pushed Louie back and drew his sword in one motion, pinning a silver clad man to a tree by his cloak.

"Eeep!" The man shrieked in a girly fashion, whimpering to only the fact that he had been caught.

"You!" Homun spat darkly as he realized who he had nearly speared to the tree.

"Conrad!" Louie exclaimed, looking at the knight who looked to have wet himself. "What are you doing here?"

"I came looking for the mercenaries so that I, Conrad, could stop their evil before they could attack the town that my beloved Melissa was staying in." He glared haughtily at Louie over Homun's shoulder, sweating bullets. "I can't allow my dear, sweet Melissa to come to any harm!"

"You'd do anything for your precious Melissa, is that it?" Homun smiled wolfishly, making Conrad give a muffled eek before he could stop himself. "Want to be her knight in shining armor, do you?"

"Conrad, we need you to head back to Ohfun as fast as you can." Louie was getting the direction Homun was going. "An army is on its way to take over the capital and you're the only one who can stop it."

"An Army?!?" If anything, Conrad looked even more petrified than before. "As if I'd risk my life for a country that wasn't mine, let alone for any country whatsoever."

"That's too bad, isn't it?" Homun's grin didn't slip an inch as the menace rolled off his tongue.

"Not even for the Mylee church?" Louie offered as he thought fast. "I'm sure that if you helped them out, they would feel in some way obligated to helping you out with something."

Thoughts of Conrad's marriage in the Mylee church rushed through his head as Priestess Jenny presided over both of them, Melissa looking upon him with the true respect he rightly deserved and the love he knew she actually held in her heart for him as she said her oaths to him.

"Let me go, you idiot! I have a kingdom to save!" Conrad started to struggle against Homun as he fought to get free of the tree he was pinned to.

Homun let him go and gave him a boot to his backside to urge him to hurry as he ran away from them. The sounds of a horse whinnying came to them quickly as Conrad burst from the trees at a full gallop, aiming on overtaking the men on the road and warning the city guards.

"He'll ride that horse to death before he gets to Ohfun." Homun watched the breakneck speed as the fool rushed off to his destiny.

"I doubt it." Louie said as he remembered a few times how the horse seemed to be smarter than the rider. "Let's go, we've got to hurry." Louie turned from Homun and headed east as best as he could guess it.

Homun watched him go for a moment, sparing a rare genuine smile that graced his lips briefly before heading after the mage.

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**Homun and Louie rush off to find Dardanel's hideout while Conrad rushes back to Ohfun to warn the city of the approaching attack. While Genie, Merrill, and Melissa continue for the devastated campsite which is now blood covered and deserted, will they find Louie's trail, or will they follow after the warband?**


	27. Chapter 26

**The beginning started off good, I don't know what I was on when I finished it though. Sleep deprivation seems to help me write better, I need to go a few more hours before I wake and finish writing chapters.**

**Disclaimer: Nod the Slumber King mocks and ridicules my lack of Owning Rune Soldier, though he thinks its funny that I could write something others would like.**

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"Seems they weren't as dead as we thought." Genie said as she touched the blood soaked ground, now a dull rust color from all the blood drying out.

"It's obvious where they went after whatever happened." Celecia spoke as she walked around the perimeter of the blast area, the charred grass ending into the bloodied ground. She looked one way, then the other, as if looking past the devastation for something else.

"They didn't leave too long ago, maybe an hour at most." Merrill was going through what was left of the cook fires, pushing at a few idle cinders with her shoe.

"So what now?" Melissa asked, looking at the sky. "The weather is going to turn bad soon. We'll lose the tracks if we don't keep up with them."

"There's two separate ones leading back the way we came." Genie said as she pushed at some of the bloodied grass and followed it a little way away from the campsite. "Looks like they were running in a hurry to get away from here, about the same time as when the camp broke up."

"So, we have a choice." Merrill said as she came over to stand next to Genie, Melissa taking up the other side of Genie and looking off in the same direction as her two friends. "Follow the many tracks heading south, or follow the two tracks heading in the opposite direction."

"My money's on the two tracks." Genie said confidently.

"Louie wouldn't leave such a large force behind unless they weren't what we were looking for." Melissa deduced as Celecia came back to them, looking off to the woods.

"Then what are we waiting for?" Merrill asked as she cracked her knuckles. "I owe Louie a punch or two for the hell he's put us through."

"I have a boot that needs fitted." Genie said as she started off for the woods.

"Just remember," Melissa said calmly, though angrily, "We want him to suffer for a long time."

Celecia looked back at the red earth, a shudder passing through her at the amount of death that must have happened to cover the ground in so much death. Wondering if they were both still ok, Celecia ran off after them.

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Louie and Homun had spent the better part of their hour traveling through the woods and bushes toward Homun's magickal feeling which had faded roughly thirty minutes ago. They had trekked through things that your average scout and woodsman only get to see, which didn't make their walking any better. The only bright point had been where Louie had managed to slip his foot into a burrow hole and had proceeded to be attacked by a badger for the better part of half a mile.

Homun had been amused for the first few seconds.

They now could see the building in front of them that they assumed the spells had come from. Smoke was coming from one of the chimneys near the back of the house, which lended a little more credence that someone was still home. The building was a dilapidated mansion, yellow stone walls made the buildings outside glow in the lunar light. Only one window on the second floor of what was as big as a mansion glowed with any candlelight.

"This looks to be the place." Homun muttered softly, keeping his voice down just in case there were any guards that they couldn't see hiding out in the darkness.

"So how do we get in?" Louie asked, turning his head one way and then to the other.

"I was opting for the front door, but I doubt it's going to be that easy for us to get in." Homun stared at the front door and the open area that led up to it. There were stairs that split and bowed in a near one hundred and eighty degrees on either side that lead up to a second floor entrance. There was a lower doorway underneath the stairwell, but the shadows hid too much to be safe.

"I don't see any other way in." Louie said as he continued to scan the outside of the house.

"Windows aren't just for looking out or in through." Homun muttered as he picked up a good sized rock and traced a rune onto it.

Louie looked over at him and watched as he reached into a satchel at his hip and pulled out a small sliver of light blue crystal before he pushed the crystal slowly into the rock. The rock rippled gently as the gem disappeared slowly into it, and then the stone looked like an ordinary common stone.

"Watch this, and be ready to go." Homun said as he tossed the rock in his hand lightly up and down before himself before he tossed the rock straight up.

The rock, for all intents and purposes, sailed effortlessly into the air. It reached the apex of its toss and seemed to hesitate before starting to come back down, but as it did, it began to angle toward the building. Louie watched as it appeared the rock began to gain size to it as it sped up and finally hit the building, punching through the wall near the top of the third floor. The destruction inside the building sounded loudly to his ears as it continued to cause secondary damage.

Four men hidden in the gloom appeared quickly and entered through the bottom doors, pushing them open and rushing inside. They had appeared from underneath the stairs and loped ungainly.

"Let's go." Homun pulled at his sleeve before rushing out from his cover and toward the open doorway that the guards had neglected to close.

Louie lit out close on his heels, keeping low behind him and ducked into the entranceway as Homun pushed the doors closed behind them. They leaned against the doors and looked around before he nudged Homun and gestured to the side into a dark alcove that could hide the both of them fairly easily.

"Well," Homun said as he peered around the room carefully, "it just goes to show that this was a bad idea." Louie looked over at Homun in surprise and confusion before he continued. "Any plan that works without any problems popping up is always a bad plan."

"I guess this is the time I mention that the plan is still not finished." Louie was looking at the stairs that led to the second floor and to where the light had been seen from the outside.

"You stay here on the first floor and search out a way out of here, I'm doing the same." Homun said as he pointed to the nearest doorway. "I'm going to cross the hall and go that way," Homun pointed to the other side of the room, "meet back here in thirty minutes. If I don't come back, go alone."

Homun looked hard into Louie's eyes, getting his attention. "No matter what happens, Dardanel must not live."

Louie didn't know if he could do what Homun was telling needed to happen, but he nodded to Homun and watched him bolt across the hall and into the doorway on the other side. Waiting for a moment to see if he was followed, Louie turned into his own doorway and began looking for a way to get out of there.

* * *

With the help of Celecia, they made great time not only following the trail that Homun and Louie left, but arriving in front of the dark yellow mansion. The moon skittered out from behind a light smattering of clouds before ducking behind the fluffy obstructions.

"Well, doesn't this look suspicious." Merrill muttered softly as she eyed the ground from the doorway to them.

"It's a good bet that this is their base of operations." Genie said as she unhitched her sword from her hip and held it ready next to her.

"Think we missed the fighting?" Melissa asked as she looked up at the gaping hole on the third floor, the windows very dark.

"They'd still be combing the grounds for the intruders." Genie muttered as she eyed the entranceways. "I think they snuck in."

"Then it's a good bet that they're still here, or caught." Celecia spoke gently from the trees above, hidden better due to her elf lineage than the three below her.

"Or dead." Merrill muttered as she pulled two daggers out from underneath her vest and held them in an underhanded grip with the blades pointing downward.

"Louie's too dumb to die." Genie said as she heard something like shouts arising in the house. The front doors burst open and one person was being chased by several others.

The man made a beeline for the hidden girls and they all tensed as they wondered if they had been found out before they realized the lead guy was running blindly into the woods, which just happened to be right at them. They couldn't see his features, but they could barely make out the dark color hair streaming out behind him and the dark cloak that was nearly in the hands of the things behind him.

He turned around and pulled out his sword, as if just remembering it was there before turning in place and cutting out the legs of one man. As the second one rushed up on him, he managed to get his blade back up and knock the slash that came at his head out of the way before punching the guy out. The third and fourth tried a twin attack, slashing from two sides at once and had Genie not moved out from the bushes to block one of the slashes prematurely.

With a practiced maneuver, Genie slashed for her partner's head and whoever it was must have taken a hidden cue as he thrust low and below her slash toward the man she had just blocked. The thrust took the man in the chest whereas the slash knocked through the sword the person tried to block with, cutting into the man's head. Both men fell to the ground, fatally wounded while Genie and the helper stood in place in the last acts of their fight.

As they brought their arms down, the dark haired man put his sword into his sheath and turned toward Genie. "Man, I must be really lucky to run into you guys out here." The voice was unmistakably Louie as he scratched lightly at the back of his head.

Genie punched him so hard that she knocked him on his butt. "What the hell is wrong with you, Louie?!" She shouted at him, unconcerned about reinforcements in the area. "What made you think in your right mind that you should run off on your own and try to find Dardanel?"

"It's good to see you too, Genie." Louie rubbed with the back of his hand against his chin. He went to stand up only to have someone kick him in the back of the head and help him get an intimate taste of the ground.

"Believe me, Louie," Merrill called out as she proceeded to stomp his head into the dirt, "This hurts me a lot more than it hurts you."

"Merrill, that's enough." Melissa called out after a few seconds of watching Louie's humiliating punishment. As soon as Merrill let him get a second to lift his face out of the divot that had been made in the ground from his face, he lunged over and wrapped his arms around Melissa's legs.

"Oh, thank you, Melissa." Louie whined pitifully as tears ran from his eyes down to his chin. "I knew you'd understand."

"Louie?" Melissa's voice called to him and he looked up at her. The moment he looked up at her face, she smacked his face with the most vicious slap she could unleash on him, which once again knocked him on his butt. Holding his cheek, he looked at her in confusion. "I'm disappointed in you, Louie." She walked past him, not giving him a second glance.

The girls walked past him, ignoring him as they walked into the mansion. Louie stood up confused as he watched them passing by. Celecia jumped down from her branch she had watched things unfold, coming to stand over by him. "It's good to see you, Louie." Celecia leaned around him from the side, smiling up into his face.

"Geez, all I did was try to do something on my own and they jump down my throat." Louie said as he rubbed his cheek absently.

"That's because they care about you, Louie." Celecia spoke as she smiled after them, barely noticing the look Louie was giving her in confusion. "All of them in their own way was worried about you. When they heard that you had most likely died, they couldn't be stopped and went out searching for you, not believing for a second that you could be dead."

He looked back at their departing backs as they walked to the lower entranceway and peered inside before going in slowly. "I guess I made them worry unneeded, huh?"

Celecia smiled slightly at him, pushing at his back lightly to get him started forward. "You better go after them." She called to him gently. "I'll make sure that you guys will have a way out. Hurry up and go with them, Louie."

Louie looked at her, wondering before smiling and bowing to her gently. Turning quickly, he ran after his friends. Celecia smiled after him, hoping him the best as she made her way back into the tree line and disappeared from sight.

* * *

Homun's hunt hadn't been so bad so far. He had only killed about ten Homunculi so far, the failures from the look of them as they were half formed humans. It explained the lurches they made as they run, their bodies not quite complete or a leg shorter than the other. He had about combed the entire north side of the mansion and was about to head back when one door stood out from the rest of them. On it, a body decomposed slowly, pieces of flesh clumping at the foot of the door while the body that had literally been nailed to it rotted messily to the ground.

There was a servant's door next to the two massive doors the body had been nailed across. The most obvious access to the room which screamed it was a trap for anyone who was slightly close to being an adventurer. He was tempted to walk through the door and let the demoralizing effect of a failed trap hurt whoever was waiting behind the doors and in the room beyond, but he wasn't here to play mind games this time.

Clapping his gloved hands together, the runes on the backs of his hands flared brightly as he motioned with his left land and snapped his fingers. The door in front of them shook once as the light on the back of the hand flared and died out. Only when the door rested did he point his right hand to the door and snap his fingers again.

The body blew apart messily as the door shattered inward in a spray of rotted meat and fractured wood. Pieces of bone bounced noisily across the floor as did the splinters of wood. Whatever trap had been waiting for the unwary, it was now useless as sounds of chains rattled high above in the gloom. He took two steps into the room and looked around slowly, the darkness obscuring everything to him.

"How lucky am I." The voice called darkly from the shadows, echoing from the space inside. "I get a second chance at the man that I almost killed."

"Almost." Homun said softly as he walked into the darkness. "They say that an assassin that has an 'almost' eventually gets a silenced when spoken about them in the darker alleys of the world."

"That's why I'm going to finish what I started behind that Dwarf's house." The sounds of metal being unsheathed in the room didn't give him any idea of where it was coming from, but it hardly mattered as he knew the dark elf would come at him to kill him. "I will make you suffer, human."

"You've already made a mistake that will cost you your life, assassin." Homun pulled out his sword from behind him, sliding it free with a fluid motion as he slid out a short sword to match it. "You've already assumed you're going to win."

Darts of metal flew out from the darkness, glinting in the light from the doorway behind him from every conceivable angle. He waited for when they came into arm range before he started using his weapons in a dance of death, metal spinning in short circles passed his arms as he flicked his blades out and guided the metal to the side or blocked them outright. He hopped back away from the first barrage, side stepped and hopped as he spun sideways in the air batting away the darts from above his head, the spun on his toes as darts shot out from him from his sides at the same time.

He had to backflip away as Xoldir Came out of the darkness from behind him, flicking into the light from the doorway only long enough to try and cut through Homun's waist. As Homun passed over him, Xoldir snapped to his left, wrenching his body to the side as Homun snapped the short sword over his shoulder and planted the blade point first into the floor. As Xoldir disappeared into the darkened room, Homun came back to his feet and pulled sharply on the short sword, freeing it from the floor.

"Your skill is impressive." Xoldir spoke softly, making his voice echo in the room.

"Your death will be just as impressive." Homun said as he held both blades out to either side of him.

* * *

**I told you the ending felt like junk, but you didn't believe me, the writer was being an author jockey...**

**Ok, honestly, I'm not exactly sure what was going through my head when finishing this up and I may take it down later to rework it, but I'll probably leave it as is. I am trying to finish this up some time this century.**

**Speaking of centuries, I'm in the process of writing a second one which is probably where all the creative juices are flowing. It's not Rune Soldier if you were wondering, though I do have to tip my hat to you. This story is over 2,200 views strong. Thank you for reading this story.**


	28. Chapter 27

**Sweet, check that action out, I can finally post this chapter up. Once again, the biscuit slices off another bit of madness from the dark fathoms of the author's mind to give you this Disclaimer**

**Disclaimer: Legal action will be served upon the author should he claim at any point in time that he owns and wishes to collect all royalties due to said ownership to Rune Soldier. Fortunately, he's a smart cookie and wouldn't dare make a false statement like that.**

**G.B.: For those of you who don't know, that's double talk for saying I own everything that is in my hand right now, namely air.**

**Homun: You own the air between your ears too.**

**G.B.: That goes without saying...**

* * *

Traveling along the second floor hallway, they had encountered a few mockeries of life and dealt with them as they continued to search for Dardanel. Genie held the lead position with Melissa right behind her, Merrill taking the third spot while Louie brought up the rear. Both Louie and Genie had their swords drawn while they moved in their line, Merrill holding throwing daggers in her hands while Melissa kept hers open in case she needed to cast defensive magick. Louie had progressively told them about Homun's background and why he was actually here with them.

"I always knew there was something wrong with him." Merrill muttered softly as walked past another open door in the long hallway of darkness. Moonlight poured in from the windows but could only illuminate short stretches with the curtains blocking most of the light out.

"It explains a lot." Genie commented as she stopped and listened for some sound she thought she heard before moving on again.

"I can't believe we traveled with him as long as we did." Melissa shivered, imagining what worse things he could have done to all of them.

"I kinda feel sorry for him, though." All three women stopped and looked over their shoulder at Louie with skepticism. "He's been around for way longer than us and he can't be with that other girl. Would you be right in the head if you were like him?"

"Don't look now, Louie, but you're already like him." Merrill sarcastically shot off before the three women continued down the hallway.

"And what's that supposed to mean?" Louie asked, only silenced by the raised hand from Genie signaling to go quiet and follow her as she turned into a room.

Inside, the room was immaculate given that there wasn't anything in the room except the glossy surface of the floor. No curtains or windows adorned this irregular room, and only one door on the other side made it anything but a trap. Still, Genie moved cautiously through the room only to spin on her toes as the door they came through slammed and locked shut by unseen hands on the inside of the room. Louie rushed over and tried tugging the lock open only to be unable to budge it.

"Poor little guests." The sultry voice called through the room had the girls take a three sides defense as they turned their backs to one another while Louie turned his to the doorway and raised his weapon. "They come into my parlor so willingly only to turn down my hospitality. It's so rude of them."

"Anyone see anything?" Merrill asked as she kept scanning the room for the speaker, but being able to find anything even though there was nothing to hide anyone anywhere.

"She's got to be using magick. It's the only possibility." Melissa spoke calmly, but quietly enough to keep it to just them.

"The time for our mage to be useful, and he's too far away without tipping off our enemy." Genie muttered in frustration as she waited for whatever was about to come at them. "Is there anything you can do, Melissa?"

"Not really." She spoke with her own frustration audible in their ears. "If I cast something, it'll be just as obvious and leave you with having to watch out for me as well."

"Well, since you've come in, it would only be polite if I entertained you with something for awhile." The sultry voice purred as it echoed throughout the room. Everyone crouched where they were and prepared for whatever was coming next.

The floor began to bulge upward near the second door and form wetly into a large humanoid like creature, if it didn't look like it was a part of the floor. Thick arms formed with fingerless hands and two beady eyes peered out at them from where it came together. "Meet Titan. He is one of my dear friends, so I hope you shake hands with him."

"Tell me that's not an elemental that just got summoned." Genie said as she took a hesitant step back from the creature that had yet to move.

"It's that thing that took my money to that bottomless hot spring!" Merrill pointed an accusing finger at the creature as it began to slide along the floor toward them.

"That's a bit different from the Golem I created for you, Merrill." Louie called from over by the door, already putting his sword out and pulling out his wand.

"What was the thing that took your money like, Merrill?" Melissa asked as she glanced from Louie to Merrill before turning her face to the thing moving faster at them.

"We couldn't stop it, no matter how hard we tried, and trust me, we tried everything." Merrill said as she put her weapons away, knowing they were not going to help against this creature.

"There's got to be something we can do!" Melissa said as the thing raised it's hand above their heads.

Before it had a chance to bring down its hand to swat at them, a bolt of lightning flashed over all three of their heads by mere feet and impacted with the hand, shattering it into a cloud of dust and dirt. The girls split away from the falling bits of ground, looking back at Louie who looked like he had just been hit with the very same lightning. Though his hair was standing up on end and his hand was still smoking slightly, Louie looked calmly on at the creature.

His look faltered for a second when the thing started to regrow a hand out of the shattered wrist. He already began to start chanting as the hand reformed and it started coming after him this time.

"Melissa!" Genie called to the priestess as Louie threw another bolt of lightning from his hand, this time blowing an arm off at the shoulder. "We need to help him!"

Looking confused for a moment at what she could do, Melissa realized that she was going to be the only one to find the person who summoned the creature to attack them. As she began to chant for the grace of Mylee, Genie sheathed her regular sword and pulled out the huge sword from her back, fully intent on hacking into the creature. Louie was in the process of casting his spell as the creature came before him, arm nearly restored from when it had been blown off its body and raised the still forming stump above its head to swing down on him had Genie used her strength and an added jump to hack into the body.

It looked dumbly at her as her sword embedded itself into its shoulder before shifting its massive body back and forth and flinging her free before Louie placed his hand to its chest and finished the lightning bolt spell once again. With no place to go but directly into the Titan's body, the electricity blew Louie hard up against the wall, pelting him with debris as the back of the Titan blew out and the front blew apart. Still, the thing didn't collapse under its own weight as the body shivered and started to form back together again.

Genie took her chance as Louie tried to step out of the way from the front of the earth creature and slashed sideways, cutting through the weakened pieces of the Titan and causing the upper half to fall forward where Louie had previously been. Still, with the devastating damage done to it, the upper half melted away into the floor while the stump of a body flowed upward, already in the process of forming back into the previous creature.

"This is getting ridiculous!" Genie shouted as she backed up, helping Louie with one arm while she kept the forming monstrosity in sight.

"I can't cast that spell many more times." Louie was panting slightly, sweat was beading on his forehead as he stood up straight and turned to look at the creature as it finished forming and turned toward them both.

Melissa had stopped chanting and slowly turned around in the place she was, looking around with faith that she would find what she was looking for. Nothing in the room was hidden from sight, so she began looking above and below them, gazing up at the ceiling. From one corner of the ceiling, the darkness seemed to shift and warp, as if something was trying to keep the shadows dragged around them.

"Merrill!" Melissa pointed to the darkness and the thief understood as she took a dagger out and threw it as hard as she could in the direction Melissa pointed.

The darkness shifted and disappeared altogether showed behind it the silk clad body of Jandice as the dagger nearly caught her in her shoulder. She moved slightly to the side to avoid it and watch as the blade ricocheted back to the floor below.

"I thought it would take you longer to find me." She crooned as she watched the Titan make another try at the mage and the swordswoman. "Maybe I'm not being generous enough to just let you play with Titan."

Louie rolled out of the way away from the hand that smashed into the spot where he and Genie had been standing at, her own jump going in the opposite direction of Louie's, giving the Titan the option of going after one or the other.

"Maybe I should unleash a Salamander?" Jandice smiled as she licked her lips, imagining the damage the giant flame lizard would do to not only the people, but the room as well.

"Maybe you should duck?" Merrill called out to her as Melissa held her hands before her thumbs and index fingers together as she snapped her eyes open, pointing her hands toward the corner.

From out of the space between her hands shot out magical bolts of energy that flew up at Jandice extremely fast, flying as if they had bird wings. Jandice could watch in surprise as the bolts of energy rushed toward her before she raised her arms in defense before her. The sudden explosion and stones that fell out of the corner, not to mention the slightly singed Jandice falling to the floor with a short scream, meant that Melissa's magic attack hit its mark.

She rushed to her feet as fast as she could, holding her silks at her shoulder. "You little bitch! How dare you attack me?!"

"Scuse me, Lady!" Louie said as he rushed by Jandice, who could only look at him dumbly.

The shadow that quickly blocked out the light above her had her turn her head around to what could have done the deed. She saw something that strangely looked like a hand shaped piece of floor coming down at her and could only continue to stare at it as it came down and smashed her into the ground. As the hand removed itself, she laid sprawled out as if a bug that had been squished, legs and arms bent in ungainly angles while her face was buried down into the ground.

"You think she's still conscious?" Genie asked as she stood next to Merrill and Melissa.

"If she is, it'll be an act of God." Merrill said bluntly, watching her arm and leg spasm in pain.

"It's more merciful for her to be asleep." Melissa spoke calmly. "Otherwise, we'd have to hurt her for all the trouble she's caused us so far…"

"So true." Genie commented as she turned around and walked for the far doorway, being followed by Merrill and Melissa.

"A little help would be nice, you know!" Louie shouted as he avoided the hand of the Titan once again, the speed of the earth creature finally matching his stride and starting to overtake him.

"Do you think we should help him?" Merrill asked, skeptical of whether they should bother at all.

"He did help us out not too long ago." Melissa answered calmly, watching the thing slapping its hand down behind him as if it was a mechanical toy trying to peg him into the ground.

"He also was able to use magick without hurting any of us." Genie added her two cents for good measure while Louie leaped ahead of a narrow strike with said earthly hand.

"I don't know. He did make us worry a whole lot with him running around without us." Merrill countered to the good that they were hearing.

"Would you rather watch him get pummeled, or do the pummeling yourself?" Melissa asked lightly, bringing up a rather good point.

"As funny as it would be watching him get his, I'd rather do the work myself." Merrill commented happily, imagining already the pain she was going to inflict on Louie at a later date in time.

"You'd better slow it down, Melissa." Genie commented, letting her know that now would be a good time to help out their friend.

Once again, Melissa raised her hands together, thumb and fingers touching as she called for Mylee's grace before opening her eyes and launching the magickal attack at the earth creature. With the force of the explosion, Louie was propelled forward and landed face first as he slid to a stop on his teeth. He rolled over quickly to see if the thing was still coming after him and could only watch as the monstrosity crumbled to pieces where it had been.

"Thanks, Guys." Louie called as he laid back into the dirt weakly, his legs burning and his chest heaving as he tried to recover from the spells and the running.

"Don't get used to it. We still have a use for you." Merrill called as she walked over to the door and began inspecting it for traps before picking the lock with a few tolls from the inside of her vest.

"You'd better rest up to, Melissa. We made need your spells soon." Genie quietly directed as she pushed the priestess toward Louie.

She walked over to the sprawled out mage and sat against the wall feeling faintly dizzy from the spells, but still not totally spent. The location spell had cost her a great deal of energy, but it had been worth it in the end. She looked over at Louie who had his eyes closed and was just starting to get his breathing under control.

"You did good, Louie." Melissa called over to him, watching him relax.

"It's thanks to you that we're even still alive, Melissa." Louie said as he opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling.

"If you hadn't stopped that attack that was going to hit me, I would have ended up much like that woman over there." She glanced in the direction of Jandice before looking back at Louie. He had managed to sit up and roll onto his hands and knees, crawling slowly over to her.

He felt light headed and a little weak, the spells were starting to take their toll on him. He made it just far enough to Melissa before his arms collapsed out from under him and his face landed in Melissa's lap. She jumped as his face flopped into her lap and put her hands to his head to push him off only to have him weakly turn over.

"I'm sorry about that, Melissa." Louie muttered, a sleepy look in his eyes. "I'm not used to casting so many spells at once."

She was about to push at his head again, placing one hand to his brow where his hair was out of place before she started to stroke his hair gently. "It's ok, Louie. You did good, so rest for now."

His body seemed to relax even more where he laid as the tension went out of him. He closed his eyes and let the calming touch of Melissa caress him into a light sleep. He was able to mutter a thank you before he fell into sleep. Genie and Merrill glanced over at Melissa and Louie, watching the tender moment and wondering if they would ever get their turn to have such a moment with him before returning to what needed to be done. Dardanel was somewhere close by and they needed to hurry before he escaped.

* * *

Their swords clashed against each other, time and time again. Darkness wasn't an obstacle for either of them as Homun moved as fluidly as the dark elf, Xoldir. They moved back and forth through the room, flashes of light as sparks flew from their clashing weapons lit their space for only a moment before the sparks died out and they came back at each other.

Homun had lost the short sword some time ago, using it for leverage as he had climbed up into the rafters by using it as a step in the wall. Traps had been laid up here as well, to deter any but Xoldir from using them as an advantage, but because of the close quarters combat, occasionally they had to separate to get away from a swinging pendulum blade as they began to come free from their held lines and swing methodically back and forth.

Some had been cut free of their ropes, left to fall into gravity's sweet embrace and rush to the floor below when one had gotten into the others way at trying to get to each other. There was no verbal taunting, their speed with their weapon the only conversation the other was worried about as they traded steel on steel in every conceivable path to death as they could, though their turns and flips managed to draw only clothing back from flesh and even scrape the skin hidden underneath.

They weren't tiring either. They knew that the first one to show a weakness in this battle was going to end up dead on the end of one or the others blade. They kept their precarious dance going as fast as they could, as reckless as they could, waiting for that one momentary slip that would plunge them into death's embrace. If only their footing would slip just a little bit and plunge one down from above to hell below.

As if divine inspiration had been speaking to them, something above them exploded, shaking the support beams they were standing on and slightly causing the ropes the blades were attached to vibrate with the shock. Homun had just put his foot down on one as it had shook, throwing his footing off balance and he fell from above. He had time enough to twist in mid fall, tossing a dart toward Xoldir as he passed by one of the deadly pendulums and missing by scant inches.

Xoldir wasted no time coming to where homun had fallen from and tilted with the speed he had gained from bolting over to it, catching his foot and slinging him down toward Homun who wasn't falling fast enough to get away from Xoldir. Homun hit hard on his back, hard enough to let loose of his sword and drop it, the weapon spinning away from his fingers. Xoldir spun once and landed on his feet as he drove the sword into the shoulder of Homun, preventing him from reaching for a short range weapon, or any weapon for that fact.

Xoldir sneered down at Homun with victory clearly etched in his face as he twisted the blade sharply in Homun's shoulder. He didn't groan or moan, but his face did twist in pain as the blade jerked roughly in a quick turn.

"Aren't you finished yet?" a woman's voice coldly called from the entrance of the room, bringing Xoldir's eyes up as he twisted the blade back to where it had been thrust into Homun's shoulder. Lyssa was standing in the shattered doorway, watching them finish their battle.

"He gave me quite the challenge." Xoldir spoke softly, his breath slightly wheezing as he kept strict control of his breathing. "I was just about to kill him when you came in."

"I wasn't talking to you, vermin." Lyssa spat darkly, never moving from where she stood.

Xoldir looked up at her darkly, with eyes that could burn her down if not actually than with the fire that burned in them. "I'll deal with you in a second, woman. I have to kill this one first."

"If you're not going to kill him," Lyssa's rapier rasped outward from the sheath at her hip, angled gently upward in a loose grip as she brought the hilt back to her side with blade pointed upward and forward, "I'll clean up your mess."

"You'll stay right there and out of my business." Homun threatened her from underneath the blade of Xoldir, drawing the eyes of the dark elf back down at him.

"You've lost, Fool!" Xoldir spat angrily, losing his patience with this. "You cannot win!"

"I told you once already." Homun spoke calmly up at Xoldir without a hint of fear. "You've made the mistake of assuming you've won."

Xoldir wasted no more time as he ripped his weapon free from Homun's shoulder and thrusting it downward toward his skull. Homun used his hands and clapped together before his face, using what arm strength he had left to keep the tip from going through his skull. Xoldir gritted his teeth and pressed with the rest of his body down onto the blade before looking confused and up over his shoulder.

He didn't have time to move or even register what was going on as one of the bladed pendulums slammed into him from above and tossed what was left of his mutilated body off into the shadows, spraying blood everywhere as the metal blade bounced once before embedding into the floor by one of it's pointed tips. Homun stood up slowly and rubbed at his shoulder which began to heal slowly.

"You didn't notice I wasn't aiming at you and instead was aiming at the rope that was holding your death." Homun commented in the direction he had seen the corpse flop off into, knowing full well that if his head was still attached to what was left of the body, he would be able to hear the mocking call from his enemy. "You lost long before this battle was ever begun." Homun finished as he walked over and picked up the blade that had slipped from his grasp earlier, sheathing it up and onto his back.

"For a dark elf, he wasn't very good, was he?" Lyssa said as she walked into the room, her bade still held at the ready.

"I blame his teacher." Homun said as he made to walk toward Lyssa before he stopped and reached for the blade at his back. "He could have been better if not held back by his teacher."

Lyssa's rapier ripped through the air at Homun and he had time enough to roll over his injured shoulder, freeing the blade from his back and spinning it in front of himself to defend against the continuous attack of Lyssa's rapier. She gave him no time to recover as she stabbed faster and faster, probing his defenses for a gap of any kind.

Homun stepped into one of her thrusts and pushed the rapier to the side and past him, allowing him to get within her striking range and forcing her to step back, giving him the opportune time to bring his own weapon to bear on her, slashing and hacking at her as she defended for all she was worth. They sprung away from each other, allowing only a few feet between them before they stared each other down once again.

"You're not going to let me pass, are you?" Homun asked calmly, already knowing the answer to that question.

"I was told to simply observe you." Lyssa said, making no motion to drop her weapon.

"You're going against your master's orders?" Homun asked gently, wondering if she had finally been able to go beyond the hold of the spells placed on her.

"The bindings on me were weak to begin with." Lyssa commented with a shrug as she raised her weapon before her, the tip resting in her palm as she assumed a lunge stance. "I've wanted to test you for many years, my heart. You've always held back against me, now either I will kill you, or you will kill me."

"We could very well kill each other if our skill is the same." Homun placed his second hand onto the hilt of the weapon, raising it up before him as he sighted to Lyssa with the point of the weapon.

"We are not the same." Lyssa hissed, her voice like acid to his ears. "I will prove once and for all that I am the only Rune Soldier!"

Homun neither nodded, nor spoke to her. He knew that this had eaten at her for millennia. Genders had been very predominant male when it came to places of power and authority. Being a female made Homunculi, she had always been in the shadow of her male predecessors until she excelled at the stealthy kill. She had probably killed more than he had, yet he was the one granted the title until, grudgingly, they had given it to her as well. That had started the fighting between him and her, the fact that she was the better killer whereas he was a tool to clean up afterwards.

He wondered if his heart could break many times when he had been told that she was to be his companion, before they had even known of the title 'Rune Soldier'. Now he knew the answer to that question.

They moved as one toward each other, intent on nothing but the death to come…

* * *

**Wow, Xoldir and Jandice taken care of. Dardanel the only one left unless you count Lyssa, but it looks like they got some personal issues to work out between themselves. You know how love is...**

**Thank you all for reading this story and enjoying it so much, you guys make it worthwhile. And just for reference sake, 2500 view to this story as of April 12th. Keep kicking butt and reading names, Folks!**


	29. Chapter 28

**Miracles have been known to happen. I have a lot of things happen to me, but the Biscuit simply wipes the dirt off himself before getting back onto the breakfast plate and taunting your futility to get rid of me. Bwa ha ha ha ha!!!**

**Homun: Just get on with it, you idiot**

**G.B.: Um...Yeah, anyways...**

**Disclaimer: The Force has commanded me to tell you that I own nothing that has to with Rune Soldier and its affiliates. The Force happens to be a wooden baseball bat swung at a very high speed for my head.**

**Merrill: Please tell me that this misery is about over with...**

**G.B.: It'll be over when I decide it's over!**

* * *

Lyssa growled deep in her throat as she launched herself at him, the one that was her heart, and her nemesis. He had seen things side by side with her throughout time, sometimes her enemy, sometimes her friend. She switched from her lunge in the near second it took to bring the tip of her blade toward him and slashed roughly upward from his shoulder, cutting the skin just underneath and the shirt he wore.

She remembered the first time he had placed those greaves across his wrist and lower arm when they were strictly meant for the legs. He had said at that time that they were for training, to which she scoffed and walked off from him. She watched as he flicked his arm up, causing the greaved arm to casually bounce the thin bladed rapier away as she tried to bring the weapon back down and slash back through the spot she had just opened up.

His weapon snapped out at her, black energies dancing along the cutting edge with a subtle snap of power as he thrust just past her shoulder and near her neck. Her skin felt burnt off by its near proximity before she could do a handless cartwheel as the blade shifted from thrust to slash, rolling over and off of her as she spun. She landed with catlike dexterity and riposte before launching her body behind a distance less target.

He bent with his slash, taking the thrust along his shoulders and back armor as he twisted at the waist and shifted weight before bring a knee up from nowhere and causing her to step back or take the full hit from him as he took up his stance less position and eyed her. His attack left her neck aching in pain as if he had actually cut the skin to the tendon and vein.

The attack had been deceptive when he had first used it against her long ago. She had watched from the side when she had been sent to examine his skill long ago and that almost casually slow thrust that he had flicked outward with as the blade danced with dark energies. Only when it had missed and left him exposed did the true intent of the attack come out, the energy turning the blade into a engine of death that would cleave anything it touched into ragged meat as it would suddenly speed up and rip off large sections of body as it passed.

She shouted as her blade flashed a sickly green before she touched his body. It was a low charged shot of poisons and other such toxins that she kept etched on the inner guard of the rapier's handgrip. One of the few effective spells she could use thanks to her 'Masters'. The dark armor on his chest flared briefly with wards before snuffing out in a wink and melting against the touch of her blade.

He rolled with the thrust, spinning a quick turn in the air before showing his own catlike grace as he landed on his toes and fingers, keeping his sword raised up and over his shoulder as the melted pieces of his armor dripped down and to the floor. He seemed to push off with just his toes and rushed at her, nearly flat with the ground as he kept his eyes at her, his weapon only coming forward as all his forward motion stopped instantaneously in front of her and he propelled himself airborne in front of her, cutting into her pant leg and just a bit of skin underneath before she could pivot out of the way.

She looked up over her shoulder, intent on skewering him as he came back down only to see the bladed object in his hands as he rose snap forward toward her. She jumped back several times before he landed again and assumed a defensive stance, waiting for her next move.

She took up a defensive stance as well, panting slightly at the brief dance of death they had enacted and feeling something she had sorely missed in the years since the end of the war. "I remember you being faster." She commented to him, the sneer in her voice never touching her face.

"I remember you talking less." Homun countered back at her, still waiting for her to come at him, his voice holding no set emotion even if his eyes promised pain.

She stuck her rapier point down before her and fingered the cuffs of her gloved hands, eldritch power lighting up under her fingertips as she traced the runes that had long ago been made a part of her. Brushing her fingers over other pieces of her armor and clothes, glyphs of magick illuminated briefly as inert magickal power was activated along her body before she reached for the handle of her rapier and pulled it free from the ground. Placing the tip of the weapon into her outstretched hand, she changed from her defensive stance to her offensive.

"You do realize you have no chance of winning." The smugness apparent even to a dead man, Homun looked on with his firm gaze.

"You've already lost." Homun muttered if only to himself as he prepared for what would very well be his last battle.

They came at each other, weapons clashing as a force of power washed over both of them, throwing dust and bits of rock into the air as they once again attempted to kill each other. Homun batted the thrusting blade away with his greaved left arm as he thrust his own sword in towards Lyssa's chest, only to have her armor turn the weapon with no mark or sound. Stopping as if she had not commited herself to the full thrust, she spun on her toes and turned her weapon downward above him, aiming down toward his back.

He turned as he lunged past her, spinning in the air as he brought his arm down once again and batted the blade to the side that caught briefly in his stomach before passing. He tried bringing his sword up between her legs to gut her as turned only to once again have the weapon stop dead in its tracks before hitting her. He hit the ground and tried to roll over her rapier only to take an additional slash as she pulled it free and attempted to pierce Homun as he moved back and out of the way.

Homun pushed off the ground with his one hand and flicked it forward as he lifted into the air, throwing darts and a shuriken toward Lyssa. She gave a disgusted look as the weapons ricocheted away from her in every direction before coming close to her as she made a cutting motion with her blade, digging into his left shoulder and his right arm.

Homun touched briefly on his toes before spring boarding backwards into a flip and threw more of his small weapons, bits of jagged metal, daggers, and a chakram that came the closest to hitting Lyssa. She came on into the hail of metal, undeterred as she thrust with a maddening pace upward towards Homun, piercing his shoulder guards and giving him a glancing cut near his scalp.

Seeing that his weapons were unable to strike her, he sheathed his sword behind him and landed in a crouch, his head tucked as he rolled forward underneath her thrust. He pivoted as he passed to her side, raising his arm to guard the slash coming from the side and punched forward, feeling the hard strike to Lyssa body as he felt her weapon come to a stop against the greave.

Lyssa looked confused at her gut where she had been punched, stunned and unable to breathe as she took a step back and looked from her gut to Homun who held stock still. "How?" she gasped as she took a second step back and brought her weapon up in front of her defensively.

"Your armor is glyphed to turn all weapons sent against you." Homun muttered as he stood carefully, pain crawling up and down his arms as he clenched his fists tightly. "It doesn't register that fists are weapons." Homun charged in at her once again, her rapier whipping out in a metal blur as she tried to take Homun in the leg and stop his charge.

He jumped the thrust and kicked her in the shoulder before landing and giving her a few more shots to the stomach where her chest protector did not cover. He punched and kicked at her legs and behind her knees, weakening the muscles and forcing them to cramp up bit by bit while her weapon could only clip him at so close a range. She had managed to avoid his punches to her face, but as her body started to clamp down into pain induced cramps, she couldn't avoid all the shots.

Flicking her thumb to the inside guard of her rapier, she activated a second spell ingrained into the rapier. The blade turned a searing red and cut across Homun's face as she drew it back from behind his head, cutting across his cheek. Homun flinched and shouted in pain as his skin bubbled and cauterized instantly. He stumbled back and away from Lyssa who was taking the moment to deal with her pains while Homun dug at his face, his eyes watering profusely.

She gathered herself and pressed her advantage while the magick was still in effect. Skin burnt horribly as she pierced and cut, slashing flaps of skin away with a sizzling sound while Homun did his best to avoid the deadly weapon. His back hit the wall and He could not move out of the way as Lyssa began giving speeding cuts that caused blood and pieces of armor to fly. Her blade causing a red blur around her ever increasing weapon as it rent him from limb to limb.

Homun screamed out his torment as she split him all across his form, his body spasming in pain as she turned him into a ragged mess in seconds. Homun slumped to the floor, delirious from the pain and his mind nearly broke from the torture. Lyssa stood back, gasping as her weapon flickered out, the last of the spell flickering away. Sweat poured from her brow as she stared hard down at Homun who could only whimper in misery, his eyes unfocused.

She had seen him like this before, pain clouding his mind and soul as he had been nearly ripped asunder from a powerful explosion from a mage they had been targeting together. He had taken the brunt of the blow, leaving the spell caster winded enough to be brought down by her attack. It had taken months for the Creators to put Homun back together again to where he was usable. Strange, that it was her that would bring about his misery this time.

She brought her weapon up and beside her face as she aimed down its length for his head. "It would have been easier for the both of us if we had been born into a world without conflict." She spoke softly to him, unsure whether it was him that needed hearing this, or herself for what she was about to do. "Go before me, Homun. To that world we both long for." She thrust with all her might for his head.

* * *

"Think thirty minutes is long enough for him?" Merrill asked from next to Melissa, glancing over and the slightly smiling priestess as she continued to stroke Louie's head since he fell asleep in her lap.

"We don't have anymore time." Genie said as she stood guard by the door they needed to go through to continue their search for Dardanel. She sheathed her giant sword onto her back and stood waiting, looking out the open door.

Calling lightly to him, Melissa shook his shoulder. "Louie, we need to keep going."

Moaning gently, Louie shifted slightly before pushing himself off of Melissa's lap. He tilted his face up and peered at Merrill over Melissa's lap, a trail of drool still hanging from his mouth and trailing back into Melissa's lap.

"Oh...Ick." Merrill sweat dropped while a look of disbelief and disgust snapped into place on Melissa's face.

"Is it morning yet?" Louie mumbled before Melissa pushed him off with a pissed off look.

"I can't believe I was actually nice to him." Melissa thought to herself as she stood up and did her level best to wipe the drool from her robes.

"What did I do?" Louie asked as he stood up slowly, rubbing his head where he had been pushed away with a bit of force.

"Next time sleep with your mouth closed, Louie." Merrill pointed to his chin, as Louie whipped his hand up to his mouth and wiped away the evidence of his poor sleeping habits.

"What's in there, Genie?" Melissa asked, absently wiping at the spot where Louie had drooled.

"Looks like a lot more of the rest of the house, though it's got one chair and a fireplace in the back of the room." Genie described briefly, not sure what the deal was with the room. She felt someone was watching them, though the room was too dark to tell where the person could be hiding.

Louie came up and took the other side of Genie on the door, looking inside the room from one side to the other. It was dark, and torn curtains were hanging across the windows, no light could be seen from them. An old High back chair sat in the middle of the room, the only object to be seen from where they stood, but it was the only thing necessary. Louie's eyes were pulled to the chair, something calling his gaze to it.

"Ever get the feeling that something really bad was about to happen?" Merrill said as she crouched underneath Louie, peeking into the same room but seeing nothing else out of the ordinary, nor any traps from her cursory glance.

"We will just have to hope that Mylee watches us in battle this day." Melissa said as she also peered into the doorway, though she was crouched just below Genie.

"Why not ask how I think the battle is going to go?" A dark voice that was familiar to all of them called out through the room as the doors were magickally wrenched open, exposing them. From the shadows of the chair rose a man dressed in familiar courtly silks of the darkest maroon, though they were as frayed as the curtains around the edges.

"Dardanel!" Louie shouted as he stepped forward, blocking Merrill as Genie did the same for Melissa.

"It's so nice to be fondly remembered." Dardanel's head tilted back and to the side as if he were working a kink out. "Especially by those who foiled my plans to rule all of Rijarl's kingdom. My rightful Kingdom!"

His voice was edged with hysteria, his figure hunching forward and arms slightly splaying to his sides as if he were challenging them. Louie glanced over to Genie who did the same to him before switching their eyes back to the man they had been searching for. Louie reached for his sword, deciding to not give away his new skills with magick unless it was absolutely necessary.

"Dardanel!" Melissa's voice called out firmly and with a commanding authority. "By order of King Rijarl of Ohfun, we hereby place you under arrest!"

Crazed laughter poured from Dardanel as he shivered in the throes of his madness, one arm reaching up and covering his eyes as he leaned back and laughed all the harder. "Do you think I care one wit about that pompous king's orders?" It was as if Dardanel's eyes began to gleam in the near dark, his posture turning more towards attack as he crouched onto the tips of his toes and crouched a bit lower in stance.

"Louie must have punched him harder than I thought. He's totally knocked his sanity out of his head." Merrill muttered as she adjusted her footing, her nerves screaming 'madman'.

"If I remember right, that would have been all of us punching on that barrier that eventually collapsed and allowed us access to him." Genie countered back while Dardanel self ranted onward.

"Be that as it may, we have a really serious problem here." Melissa had pulled out her pole arm and had snapped into readiness as she gazed past Genie's arm.

"How should I kill all of you?" Dardanel questioned idly as he stared at them, not realizing that they weren't listening up until this point in time.

"Not to burst your bubble or anything, but you ain't exactly got any weapons on you, buddy." Merrill pointed a finger at Dardanel, as if pointing out a very important fact to the madman, hopefully allowing him to see reason and surrender peaceably.

"Hhmmm, too true…" Dardanel muttered gaily, as if it hardly mattered whether he was armed or not.

Genie practically cursed as Dardanel flashed forward at inhuman speeds, punching Louie hard in the face and slamming him back into Merrill, making them both go down in a heap before he turned on her. She managed to get her sword up and inbetween him only to have the weapon nearly ripped out of her hands by his one handed grip and punched hard across the jaw, bouncing her off the floor.

Melissa could stare in shocked wonder as Genie came up off the ground nearly a foot from the hard impact before Dardanel grabbed her by the throat and lifted her effortlessly into the air before him.

"Melissa!" Merrill shouted as she unceremoniously kicked Louie off of her and tossed a handful of weapons at Dardanel's side. He didn't try to block them with Melissa nor did he try to avoid them as the weapons hit his body with a odd sound and bounced to the floor.

Dardanel seemed to blur once more as he came over to the thief and planted his boot into her midsection. She flew back and above Louie with a whump before slamming hard into the wall, loosening plaster around her before both fell to the floor. She curled up around her stomach and clenched her eyes in pain, feeling something inside of her grating painfully.

"Jandice outdid herself." Dardanel spoke in a giddy fashion, his eyes too large in his face while Melissa started to color sickly in his hand.

"What the hell?" Louie climbed up to his feet, rubbing his jaw. That punch had been way stronger than a normal punch, also as if he was augmented with magick.

"At least one of you adventurers are stupid enough to continue to fight me." With a casual flick of his hand, Dardanel tossed Melissa toward the chair where she crashed roughly into, rolling her and the chair a few feet before both came to a painful stop. "Come, mage. Take your best shot."

Louie hauled back his fist and with a trade mark shout, launched forward with his best haymaker. His attempt was a good one, any normal human would have been knocked off his feet and sent flying across the room into a wall before thinking about stopping. The sound of bones breaking and the anguished cry of Louie was obviously not what anyone would have though would happen.

Louie cradled his hand against him, whimpering in pain while Dardanel sneered triumphantly down at him. Patting his shoulder in a condescending way, Dardanel calmly spoke to Louie. "That was a good punch, my friend. I'm sure that you would have made a good brawler in some other lifetime."

Muttering a cantrip under his breath, Louie used a minor dispelling around anything touching him before standing up and trying to gut punch Dardanel, getting not so much as a grunt from the man as his fist connected. Louie stared into the madman's face, disbelieving that his best cheap shot punch hadn't even taken the breath out of him until Dardanel slapped him across the face, causing him to fight back and nearly into Merrill.

Genie hopped up, doing her best to force the pain away as she hauled back her weapon and slashed with all her upper body strength into Dardanel's back. The weapon meant to slice anything fleshly into meaty pieces hit much the same as Merrill's daggers on Dardanel's back, but with the addition of her swing, caused the short sword to break over him.

Dardanel casually backhanded her as he looked around at those who had fallen. The mage was still cradling his hand against his chest, most likely broken fingers and maybe even a few other ones deeper in his hand. The thief behind him was still having trouble breathing, probably due in no small part to the broken ribs he had given her with that kick. The warrior woman threw the now useless hilt at Dardanel, cutting the clothing on his shoulder if nothing else before careening away into the room.

A shout was given and magick heeded it's call as bolts of holy light launched themselves from in the center of the room and slammed hard into Dardanel, causing dust and other debris to cover her vision briefly. Melissa had gotten just enough air back in her lungs and righted herself to cast a spell, though her throat hurt something fierce.

Genie released the clasps holding her giant sword and prepared to use it in case Dardanel didn't go down. They weren't sure exactly what was going on, but this was not the man they had fought before.

As the smoke cleared, Dardanel grinned insanely from where he stood, his clothes ripped away in the explosion of magickal power. His clothes had fared worse, but at least now they could see why they were having such trouble dealing with him now. Dardanel's body was, to put it simply, wrong. Some places were shaped grotesquely while other places were not even shaped like a human's.

His body around his shoulders took on a mottled grey color, though it was hard to tell in the dim lighting of the room. Nubs of some flesh were sprouting out of his back near his shoulder blades, while his arms bulged with large, fleshly veins that extended way out of proportion with his body. His stomach seemed to writhe with something hidden there, the sound of something rasping against something else was both eerie and sickening.

"Dardanel," Melissa gasped through her rough throat, "what have you done to yourself?"

"Do you like it?" He crowed as he turned slowly around, exposing all of his misshaped body to them before locking his crazed glare on her again. "Jandice was able to make me into a God, powerful enough to kill anything that would stand against me, though it did require a few sacrifices on my part."

He pointed to his chest as he began to explain. "I was hurt badly during our last encounter, my left leg mutilated painfully and unable to hold my weight up. I found Jandice purely by accident who was experimenting with fusing life with life to create different kinds of creatures, making them stronger by taking away their natural weaknesses that they held.

"Through her experiments, I was not only able to become whole again, but I transcended my fleshly existence. By became stronger, impervious to weaponry, and immortal to time and its ravages." He flexed his gloved hands as he summarized before pointing idly to his body one at a time, explaining what he had been infused with. "Flesh of a Rock Troll." He pointed to his chest, before turning to his arms. "Strength of a Minotaur." He pointed to his legs. "Agility of a Werewolf."

He turned his eyes to Melissa as he slipped his hands free from his gloves one at a time, his fingers tapering off into hard points while he raised one hand before him. "Talons of a great Wyrm, a Dragon!" He grinned maliciously as he crouched once again, eyeing Melissa with a hungry light in his eyes. "I also developed another talent that I am sure you will find painful." He jumped toward her, his hands reared back to pierce her on the spot. "I hunger for your flesh!"

* * *

**To all the people who have read this story, I deeply apologize for making you wait. Last time I checked, the story hit just shy of 4k views. Is that some kind of record, or is it a good start to being famous? I couldn't do it without everyone who wants to read them, so accolades all go to everyone who reads this.**


	30. Chapter 29

**The pain and suffering is almost over, my friends and enemies. A few more chapters and I'll have killed off another person! Bwa Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha! Who to kill? There's just so many to choose from...**

**Melissa: This is totally against my will...prays to her God for Divine Protection**

**G.B.: Don't worry, Lady. You're gonna get yours.**

**Disclaimer: I'm getting tired of doing these things. How many times do you have to say you don't own something until someone gets the message? I Do Not Own Rune Soldier! End of Discussion!**

* * *

Time…

It is both the ultimate enemy, and our one saving grace. It stops and holds its breath forever, while other times, it rushes headlong into a future that we could never expect, nor want. In those brief moments when Time stands still, thoughts seem to follow the lines of time by freezing in place, as if all life stopped as time did.

In all honesty, Louie wishes that time, for once, could go backwards.

Dardanel moved faster than sight, unable to be stopped from his headlong meeting with Melissa. His rant about his various 'talents' only showing how deranged he had become, let alone boasting as to how inhuman he had become. Louie could only watch in sick fascination as Melissa stood and faced him down while Dardanel blurred across the room to her, the shadowy room making him move all too smoothly through the space between each other before his arm came up before him.

Melissa's green and white clothing was easily discernable as shreds of the fabric tore upward with Dardanel's clawed hand as he came to a stop before her. The air itself seemed to pull at the strips of torn cloth as they slowly flew upward into the air in jagged pieces before it seemed that the air became greedy as Melissa tried to follow them.

It was only then that time seemed to be a tangible force to him as he watched the stunned look in Melissa's eyes as she rose upward and to the side, following after the fabric that had been ripped, but not before the 'other' thing that had flown into the air with the cloth.

The underside of Melissa's chin was covered with it as she seemed to tilt in the air ungainly, the force of the claws directing her in an unbalanced turn in the air. Even as Louie looked into her eyes, he could see from this distance that something else was flying up before her face between them. It was only when she fell from behind Dardanel that time slowed even more to a sickening crawl.

In a crimson strip from near the middle of her stomach on the side of her body to up across her chest and nearly cutting into her throat was a crimson path of blood. You could see pieces of her inner body at times as she seemed to no longer have the grasp of the air around her and, too far over her own feet, she was slowly falling to her side. Her eyes seemed to convey to Louie a question of why? To Louie's mind, that's what it appeared though the scream that seemed to be building behind her lips was more obvious.

Time, realizing that it was not meant to stay still forever, seemed to leap back into stride as she screamed pain in a short blurt before she hit the ground and proceeded to bleed freely, her arms wrapping around herself to hold the pain in check while holding herself together.

Someone shouted to the priestess, calling her name. He didn't think he said it, though he couldn't be sure. He felt strangely detached as Dardanel started to turn back toward them. Once again, time idled in it's march, slowing once again as he turned to face them, ignoring the woman he had nearly eviscerated with a single blow. He his covered in his friend's blood, though he could only guess at to the small pieces in evidence on it as being bits of flesh that had gotten stuck with the blood.

Genie sprung into his view from his right, while Merrill seemed to appear just as rapidly from his left. Genie large sword held aloft in front of her while Merrill held two daggers nearly the size of short swords in a reverse grip where the blades laid back against her arms while she moved forward toward Dardanel. His insane smirk never left his face as they came at him and he swung his arms wide, waiting for them to come to him as he decided who to murder next.

Murder?

Louie's eyes flickered to Melissa's form as she rolled onto her back, whimpering and panting in pain as she tried to maintain her life for as long as she could, her lips moving, but her words lost as Genie and Merrill shouted their rage to their hated enemy. Could it be possible to live long enough with a wound that cut into your body so deep, it stripped the flesh from your bones and exposed your inners to your outers?

Questions that would soon enough have answers. Louie looked up at Dardanel as he moved his hand to deflect Genie 's overhead chopping motion into the path of her friend. Dardanel needed to be stopped before anyone else of his friends got hurt. Louie gripped his sword in his hands and called to his magick, the fragment of his staff alighting in the gem before he pointed with his weapon toward Dardanel's raised hand.

The bolt of lightning that struck into Dardanel's palm made Merrill's hair stand up on end as it flew just overtop of her head. Dardanel spun on his feet, trying to regain his balance, but Genie didn't give him a moment to recover as she thrust her shoulder into him as he turned. Taking a cue from Genie, Merrill placed a hand onto the swordswoman's shoulder and jumped off her foot, kicking with her other into Dardanel's jaw as he spun around.

Dardanel hit the wall ungainly, nearly going through the glass next to him as he brought his eyes hatefully to the two women who had dared to defy him. He crouched and rolled a second later as Louie's sword bit into the wall where his neck had been momentarily. Cursing his luck, Dardanel parried the wild slices of the mage's sword while Genie took up the other side, forcing him back toward the window even more.

Merrill moved overtop of Melissa and looked down at her, kneeling down beside her as she rooted through her bag for their emergency medical supplies. Even with the feeble magick that she was able to channel into herself, it wasn't enough to staunch the major wound long enough for blood to stop flowing out of her. Merrill only hoped that this attempt at emergency triage would save her friend who should have been long dead by now.

Genie thrust in at Dardanel, forcing him once again to bat the sword point away from his body as Louie tried once again for a cleaving slice, only to have Dardanel grab the weapon and wrench it from his grasp by bladed end alone. Undaunted by being unarmed in such a way, Louie rushed in at Dardanel and body tackled him through the window and out the second story window. They fell ungainly, Louie unrelenting in his grip while Dardanel could only claw ineffectively at his back.

Dardanel's breath was taken from him and a few of his bones creaked dangerously as Louie and him hit, Dardanel taking most of the force for both of them before they bounced away from each other. Louie waited only until feeling came back into his arms before he charged at the slowly rising monster of a man, throwing his fists with delicious accuracy as his knuckles burned with hit upon hit. Louie was crazed at this point, rational thought long since gone as he attempted to beat holy hell into Dardanel.

Dardanel threw claw swipes at the enraged Louie, though Louie seemed to shrug off the blows as if they were nothing. Even as well crafted as he had become, Dardanel was by no means unstoppable. The lightning spell that had shot into his hand had numbed his arm and made said hand nearly useless, the tender flesh screamed in pain. Trying to swipe for Louie's throat, he could only watch as Louie ducked underneath and returned to deliver an uppercut that chipped a tooth and sent his sight reeling.

Hauling back and lifting one foot off the ground as if winding up for a pitch, Louie rocked forward and slammed his fist with all the weight of his body behind hit, yelling with a mighty shout, "LOUIE PUNCH!!!" Blood flew from Dardanel's mouth as he was lifted backwards into the air for his short flight, even more blood trickled from his nose as he hit the ground and bounced at least twice. His sight was all stars and blurry images, he was fighting hard to keep his sight from going out.

"For causing pain on my country," Louie's voice was low as he reached back and took out his staff, "For sending that assassin after Merrill and torturing her," Louie raised the staff, cupping the larger end in one hand as he held the thinner in a death grip, "but most of all, for nearly killing Melissa," power began to form into that fat end cupped in Louie's hand, causing the darkness to light up in unearthly tones, "I will make you suffer!"

"No, you won't." A thin blade thrust itself from behind Louie through his shoulder, punching through him and showing a good six inches of metal before retracting back through his body. The image was repeated to his other shoulder, causing what power he had gathered to dissipate and his wand tumble from his hands before he screamed in pain.

He fell to his knees as Lyssa walked around him, standing by Dardanel's fallen form as her master attempted to stand slowly. She watched Louie as the blood poured freely from his wounds, his eyes holding his frustration and anger at being thwarted at the last second. His teeth remained grit in impotent vengeance as he watched Dardanel sway onto his feet before standing overtop of him.

"It seems that the Gods still smile on me, foolish mage." Dardanel glared victoriously over Louie, who could do nothing but throw hate from his eyes. Turning and sneering at his savior, Dardanel gestured to her as he turned back to gloat at Louie. "Where your friends tend to their fallen, who must be dead by now, they leave you to me and my mercies."

"She's not dead." Louie muttered through the pain, wincing as the muscles he was flexing in his shoulders screamed for him to relent as he tried to stand up.

"She'll bleed out soon enough, and then her body will be food for the carrion eaters, as all bodies will be some day." Dardanel spat blood into Louie's face, smiling at the disgust that flickered on Louie's face. "As you will be." Dardanel's hand raised into the air as he intended on driving his clawed hands deep into Louie's face and into his brain beyond.

Blood sprayed into the air as puncture wounds sprouted from wounded flesh. Blood sprayed in a wet macabre fountain into the air, reminding him briefly of star flowers in the sky on festival day. This all before doubt crept into his mind as to why he was still able to see, and why the pain had not doubled if not tripled.

Staring down at his body, several ragged holes oozed the corrosive life of his body as he stared in confusion at them. Turning his head, he gazed at the one who could not, and yet had, killed him.

"Lyssa….Betrayer…." he managed to gasp out from his ruined chest before the rapier found a home in-between Dardanel's eye sockets.

With a harshly uttered word, a bluish charge rippled up along the blade and into Dardanel's head which splattered wetly in a decisive way. The body stood upright for several more moments as if unsure that the brain had truly died before falling over by its own weight. Louie stared in confusion and some hatred at the woman who cleaned her blade on Dardanel's dirty clothing.

"Fools thinking they're Gods." Lyssa muttered as she sheathed her weapon and looked down pointedly at Louie. "You're angry at me." She commented idly, intent on upsetting him.

"Why did you betray him?" Louie wanted this answer worse than he wanted vengeance on her for taking away the man that he wanted to kill.

Lyssa watched Louie for a moment, not saying a word to him. She studied the man that kneeled before her as if seeing him for the first time before she turned from him and walked away, leaving his question unanswered. Louie watched her go, frustrated that he would not get his answer, but more frustrated that he could no longer destroy that which had hurt him more than anyone had ever hurt him. Tilting his head back, she screamed his frustration to the skies above as the morning sun began its approach.

* * *

Genie carried Melissa out, wrapped in her cloak. Melissa was deathly pale, but she was still breathing, of which, Louie was thankful for. Merrill followed closely behind Genie, who tried to help Louie, but only managed to get him to his feet and nothing more. Louie shrugged off the other attention the two women were trying to give him, telling them both that his wounds were nothing, and that they needed to get back to town as soon as they could.

For Louie, time dragged its feet as they walked. They rested only when Melissa's bandages needed changing and continued on foot all morning and late into the afternoon. Louie didn't pay any attention to where they were or what they were doing, only that they were moving when they needed to, and they were resting when Melissa needed to.

He kept his eyes only for her, held in Genie's arms. He watched her pale face wince in pain when jostled as Genie lost her footing for but a moment, only to adjust herself and march onward. He felt nothing that was going on to him, it hardly mattered to him as he watched her suffer in abject pain while he could do nothing, not even hold her in his arms as she had done for him earlier.

The sun was starting to set as time's lethargic march slowly crept onward. He never noticed when they walked through the town gates, nor when they were ushered into Rydon's home. He didn't even notice as he was sat down and slowly worked out of his clothes until they tried to obscure his vision of Melissa from him. Only when they couldn't fight him any longer did they knock him out with a blow to the back of his head.

He woke much later, the sky outside was dark out and he was feeling weak, but in less pain. He could at least use his arms now, though they tingled in phantom pain. He got up from where he lay, his room by the look of it, and walked slowly from his door to one down the hall. He looked around briefly before pushing the door lightly and peered inside before opening the door and stepping in.

She lay on her bed, pale as a ghost, but still breathing. He walked over to beside her bed where a chair had been set up and took a seat beside her, looking down into her face and willing life into her by thought alone. He didn't know how long he sat, though he imagined it was awhile when Rydon eventually came into the room with breakfast.

"I thought you could use some of this." Rydon spoke softly, so as not to disturb Melissa.

"I'm not hungry." Louie muttered under his breath, continuing to keep vigil overtop of his friend.

"Nay, I imagine that you are famished, but you're ignoring it for something else." Rydon smiled to himself but noticed he didn't get a response from Louie, not even a grumbling stomach. Sighing, he put the tray of food to the side and walked beside him. "You can't do this to yourself." He spoke quietly to the mage.

As if ignoring the comment the dwarf made, Louie asked, "Is she going to make it?"

"It's in Mylee's hands at this point." Rydon muttered softly, his own worry seeping into his voice. "I've done all I can do, used every spell I can think of to heal her, and nothing will work." He shook his head as he stroked his beard. "If I tried to force her to heal, it would absolutely kill her. No, I'm afraid she will have to be left to Mylee's grace for this one."

Louie didn't have an answer for that. He had spent all this time in Melissa's presence, he had took it on faith that Mylee was as much a part of their group as he was. To be told that Mylee might let her die, even though she must have been the most devout follower of the order of Mylee…

"Can I… be alone with her for a moment, Rydon?" Louie asked, his voice cracking slightly in fear of what might be said. He didn't see Rydon nod or feel the assuring pat on his arm before the dwarf left the room.

He didn't say anything to the sleeping form of Melissa, unsure if she would even here him if he tried. He didn't hold her hand, no matter how much he wanted to. He simply sat there and watched her, contemplating her faith in a God that could let her die. On the one hand, it wasn't like he could tell a God what They should or should not do. On the other, he couldn't bad mouth them for their fickleness. Melissa would be so disappointed in him if he did, and that would hurt him worse than anything that could be done to him.

The food sat untouched on the desk by the door, going cold and finally being taken away by someone when they came to check on Melissa. Louie's attention was too focused on her to pay any for anyone else, not even to himself. Several times he had to be directed from the room, which he left sparingly, though when it came to bathing her and changing her wounds, he would leave.

A full week had gone by before she finally came conscious, though she was delirious with fever. Louie stroked her hair and tried to make her as comfortable as he could while Rydon did everything in his power to reduce the fever and purge the sickness that was festering in her wounds. Rydon feared, though, that although she was recovering slowly, she was still not recovering enough.

One lucid moment caught Louie almost unaware as he stroked her hair, using a cloth to wipe the sweat away from her eyes and from her brow. "I'm sorry, Louie." She muttered to him with eyes that seemed so out of focus. Her hand reached for the cloth before he put the cloth down and took her hand, putting it back down at her side.

"You've got nothing to be sorry for, Melissa.' Louie said as he stroked her hair a bit longer. "I just wish I could do more for you."

"I appreciate what you're doing now," she smiled wearily at him before continuing, "you look awful, bags under your eyes and everything."

"You don't look so great yourself." Louie smiled weakly down at her, squeezing her hand before he sat back. He tried to release her hand, but she wouldn't let go of him so easily.

"I must look a mess." She spoke weakly, turning her eyes from him and from herself.

"You look better than you have since Dardanel…" Louie's voice tightened up and cut off whatever he was going to say next.

They didn't have anything to say to each other before her strength started to wane. She turned back to look up at his face, her eyes watering with tears. "Thank you, Louie." Melissa managed to say before she closed her eyes, falling back into her weak slumber.

* * *

Lyssa continued to walk away from what was left of Dardanel's organization. Xoldir dead and Jandice defeated, she had little fear that anyone would be coming for vengeance, least of all Jandice. She wondered what she would do with her newfound life, freed from the unholy geas that had been bound into her body long ago.

She stopped long enough to look at her hands, and the 'blood' that covered them. All the lives she had taken over time had accumulated in gloves of blood, sins that could never be washed off. She had always wondered what it would be like to be guilt free, a dream unattainable now as mortality.

No, she would continue to live on, long after all the others had long since died off. That was going double for Homun's friends. She hated them, not mind numbing vengeance hate, but enough to dislike them for many years to come. Maybe she'd forget about their running around with the man that she loved, but she very much doubted that.

A woman's heart changes for no man, be it God or the Devil himself.

She smirked at that. She had seen that truth some time ago when being educated by her weapon master, a woman much like herself, yet one born from the flesh of man and not from the mind. She had learned well from her, about all types of fighting and of all weapons, but she had learned to fight with her mind before she killed with her blade.

Killing was the easy part, slaying a person's will without leaving a mark on them, that was the sign of a real master. She had taught her much, including what one should do when they were left with nothing but to live. She never understood that lesson, always assured that her geas would maintain her bound to the work of her masters.

She was now off to Ohfun, to the last place she had to deal with, an army that needed slaughtering. She promised him to do this one thing before she struck, holding back her blade from the lethal touch of oblivion. She wondered if anyone would get close enough to her to kill her, whether they were friend or foe? It would be fun to see…

After all, she had all the time in the world.

* * *

**Hhmmm, wonder how many people are going to be upset with me for killing off Melissa? can almost hear the weapons being drawn and sharpened**

**I am guaranteeing that the story will end soon, maybe no sequel. I can about guarantee no sequel, but maybe not.**

**Melissa: Someone please, rescue me from this madman.**

**Merrill: Louie's no help. Where's Homun when you need him?**

**G.B.: He can't help you now ladies. Homun is gone from you...**


	31. Epilogue

**Well folks, this is it, I believe. This is where I wrap up the story and tell you all that I killed everyone and took over Louie's place, going on to greater fame and larger riches than you can shake a dragon's tooth at. Ok, so maybe I didn't kill Louie and Co. off (except for Conrad, he's an idiot anyways) but this is where I finish what I started.**

**Disclaimer: I Did It, I Confess! I'm the Rabbit! Just don't sue me for writing trash like this! I Was Drunk I Tell Ya!**

**G.B.: Don't know what I'll try my hand at next. I'll find something that tickles my fancy, or maybe even a suggestion from those who know. Seems a lot of you liked my fighting scenes...**

* * *

"I wish you would have been here and seen it, Louie." Ila continued as she walked along next to her best friend. "She was something I wouldn't have believed if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes." Continuing to drag Louie on as he held her recent rare items from the market, she towed him by one arm as she led the way back to the guild.

He didn't have to see it to believe it. He had heard all about it, even all the way to the border town where he had been when the word came. The Massacre of Ohfun as it was being called by the bards. There were just as colorful names besides that, but everyone had agreed, the army never stood a chance against the lone swordswoman.

"High mage Carwess needed as many hands as possible to defend the walls from the invaders with the large spell, but it went unused." Ila thought to herself as she walked, her eyes looking skyward as she walked forward. "I wonder how long that barrier spell would have lasted anyways?"

"Probably long enough for the last of the army to ride up from behind them after word had made it that the city was under siege." Louie commented softly, not really there. Course, he had not really been anywhere since returning to the city. He stayed locked away in his room and refused to see anyone. Ila had managed to grab hold of him before he escaped back into his room.

"Louie, is there something you want to talk about?" Ila glanced at him from the corner of her eyes. She had noticed Louie's lack of resolve involving anything since coming back. She had managed to track down and say hi to Genie and Merrill, but as of yet had not managed to track down Melissa.

Louie looked up at her with the briefest of surprise before ducking his chin back down into his chest and continuing onward behind her. "There's nothing much to talk about, Ila." He responded with a less than heartfelt voice.

She didn't believe him in the least. Making a sound in her throat as if contemplating something, she turned away and continued to walk ahead of them, making for the peace and quiet of her room.

At the doorway into the school, he handed her stuff to her and said that he would see her in classes later on. She didn't try to mention to him that she was nearly graduated whereas he was failing nearly everything for lack of being there. There was almost no hope of him graduating if he knew nothing of his art.

Little did Ila know that all Louie had done since coming back from his last journey was to lock himself away in his room and study his books. Homun's lessons had hit home when Melissa… No, he wouldn't think about it again. He had resorted back to using his fists only after she had been attacked as badly as she had been when they had confronted him.

Making sure to lock his door behind himself, Louie proceeded to his desk and opened the book in from of him. A higher range of spell craft book than what he was necessarily studying, but he had already gone beyond those beginner text books. Homun's colors had been true to him and he practiced like a man possessed.

He would be prepared next time. He wouldn't let Melissa's… He shook his head as if trying to abandon the dark thoughts, banishing them with so simple a move. He wouldn't let it ever happen again, Genie and Merrill needed to be protected…

* * *

Merrill pocketed her payment slower than she normally would have. Money was the end all, begin all of her world.

Or it had once been.

She had worked hard to pay for herbs, salves, and poultices while in that back wood hick town of a village. Rydon's magicks had done all they could do, and yet…

She shook her head at the uselessness of trying to spin back the hands of time with her regrets. Patting her pocket to make sure that the money she had acquired wouldn't be filched from her too easily, she headed off for her home.

Not like it was much of a home to begin with.

She thought briefly if she should move out of the dirt mound of a house and find something that actually had wood floors to it. It would cost her pockets something fierce if she did, and was usually something she normally wouldn't even consider. Upgrading in such a way made her a mark instead of the thief looking to steal from others.

It's not that she needed it, but she needed a change. Genie had done everything she had could in that fight with … whatever that thing was. She was, of course, the powerhouse of the party if Louie didn't try to fight bare handed, like he had done once again.

Still, Louie had become like a man possessed when they had come back. Saying that he was forsaking adventuring until he graduated, he had returned back to the guild and had not been seen outside of it since.

She would know, she'd staked the place out herself.

Louie had never been a normal person, at least, not in her eyes. A mage who battles with his fists is a joke, and he definitely wasn't the smartest man she had ever met. In fact, he acted more like a teenager with raging hormones and delusions of grandeur than anything else. Now, he was making an active try at becoming a mage in truth instead of boast.

The pickings had been slim for Merrill and Genie, unable to hunt treasure with just the two of them, they had been forced to do every conceivable odd job there had been. There were even less jobs for the heavily muscled red head, which didn't do much for her mood, but her friend up at the castle had managed to get her at least a bounty hunting permit.

Money was a bit better there, but still, they never roamed far from Ohfun, only as far as the outlying areas of town and in the town itself. They had an unspoken agreement that they wouldn't leave Louie by himself in town. Yes, he was a big boy, but for them, he was becoming something more.

Merrill took a moment and watched a couple walking by and the cute scene that oozed sugar and sparkles and happy floaty flowers all around them in their own little world. She wondered if Louie would ever treat her like that…

Shaking her head at that thought, she grunted in discontent as she headed for Genie's place outside of town. She would have to pass her thought on with her comrade. Maybe they'd get a house with three bedrooms for all of them.

* * *

Genie walked out of the bar with her man in hand, shaking him once to see if he had wanted to press her fist into any more service. Whimpering at the jostle, the man kept his head ducked and his hands bound behind him.

Getting these guys was almost too easy. It wasn't so easy tracking them down every so often and even with Merrill's information, she still had to come in with a cheap disguise on to keep her features hidden from sight. They had heard of her by now, this one had seen her walking in the door and had tried to get into the back rooms and out probably a back door.

Putting a boot to his backside, she helped him remember how to walk and herded him forward into the crowd. Not the kind of work she was willing to do, it was still work and put food on the table.

The trip back from that town way out on the edges of Ohfun's lands had taken them longer than necessary. They didn't have to rush home, but they didn't want to wait in town anymore for something else to appear and screw with them. Their moods had been sour, to say the least.

Merrill had threatened a man at knife point that if he ever touched her in that way again, she'd do something to change his 'religion'. She apologized grudgingly afterwards once she had been calmed down. The man didn't really mean to brush against her money purse like that anyways.

As humorous as it should have been, the comment about religion had hit a little too close for all of them. Louie still throwing himself into his books and Merrill doing all the odd jobs she possibly could, it had been up to her to find something to keep her mind off of that screw up of a mission.

King Rijarl had thanked them for a job well done and had offered them their reward, neither of them had accepted. Louie said he didn't want to see the monarch and that had been the last they had seen of him. He was taking it far harder than Merrill or even she was. Still, he at least better be keeping up with his sword skills, she wasn't going to lose him to his books if she didn't have to.

The thought of losing him sent a shiver down her back and a grimace to her face. The man at that point in time had looked over his shoulder at Genie's face had seen the set glare into the back of his head almost wet himself in fear before turning his head forward and trying to walk faster. The lead tied to his wrists went taut as Genie didn't allow him too much distance.

She had lost a good man a long time ago, being the delaying line of their mercenary troupe. She had wanted to go back for him but had been restrained by the rest, even going so far as to be knocked out and carried back with them. The thought of losing Louie, who she had grown to not only trust, but care for, was not something she wanted to consider. Not after…

She shook her head and those dark thoughts. The past was the past and the future was the future. Coming up to one of the stations for the city guard, she decided she needed a drink. One to forget the past, the other to the future.

* * *

He looked down on Ohfun, the city he had come to looking for Dardanel. The woman beside him also looked down at the city, off in her own world of thought. For him, this was as close to the beginning of this odd journey as he decided where to go next. Strange, that he would come back here of all places before moving on again.

"Have you considered your next step?" the woman next to him spoke, her blonde hair stirring in the breeze as she continued to stare at the city below.

"I'll gather some information before leaving, might stay for a day or two." He spoke gruffly and to the point, his cloak dancing in the very same breeze that had the woman's hair moving.

"It's going to be a hard job finding her." The woman spoke lightly, turning her head to look at him.

"I'll find her." The man spoke with certainty. "I have all the time in the world to look." He adjusted the greaves on his arms, still getting used to the new straps he had placed on them.

"You don't have to do it alone." She offered to him, even though she knew what his answer would be.

"It's better that way if I do it alone." His voice was cold, though not as harsh as it had once been. He people were making him soft. He wondered if that was a good thing or not. "You can't go any farther with me, anyways."

She looked over her shoulder to the woods behind her, the very same woods that would lead a person to the Tartious Forest and to the village of the elves. "I suppose not. I'm just a bit tired, but I'm not as heartless as some people are."

He chuckled at that. "I suppose not." He muttered as he looked at the city below him once again, a rueful smile on his face. "I probably shouldn't go down there after all."

She looked at him in confusion before he continued.

"She wouldn't have stayed around in Ohfun, not after killing all those people." He nodded slowly, knowing what the populace would have done to her if she had made any motion for the city. "I'll start with the farmers along the roads and see if I can find out anything about a woman who had been headed away from the city on that day and go from there."

She turned herself to him, presenting the man with her front and offering him her hand. "I'm sorry to see you go, then."

"No, you're not." He smiled once again, this time openly and brightly. "You have someone else you want to see."

The blush that spread across her cheeks couldn't be hidden even if her hair was blowing up over her shoulders and slightly obscuring her face. She sighed greatly, her shoulders sagging. "You're just as bad as he is, you know that?"

"So you told me, many times." He released her hand and stepped back from her. "It's all you ever talk about."

Mollified, she turned from him with a sniff and a raised nose. "That will be quite enough out of you." She held it a bit longer when he chuckled at her antics before dropping the pretense of being upset at him. "I hope you find her, someday."

"It's not a matter of if, it's a matter of when." He nodded to her with assurance. "I'll find her. And then I'll tell her what I've needed to say to her for as long as I can remember."

"Love will do that to a person." She knew it did the same thing to her, but she needed to find him first. He had wanted to stay behind and wait for her until she had recovered, but the kingdom needed him worse if Conrad didn't make it.

"Love?" He said as he turned around and started to walk away as he talked. "I'm going to tell her she needs to lift her shoulder a half inch. It leaves her chest way too exposed to a counter attack."

The face plant was by far the best ever in the history of Ohfun.

As she straightened herself from the ground and dusted her clothing off, he called to her. "You never did say why you love him so much?"

She didn't even hesitate when she responded. "Because he's my champion." The smile she gave was one she felt from the heart.

* * *

Waving his hand back over his shoulder as he turned and continued on his way, he didn't look back at her as he disappeared into history, to never be seen again in Ohfun and points between. Rumor would say that he simply ceased to exist, but whispers would be had of a man who no man could kill hunting down a woman that no man had ever seen.

Most stories would be dismissed, but this one was continued long after other had been forgotten, sightings only by wandering people out on the long road mentioning a man wearing leather armor and a cloak as dark as a sky at night, carrying weapons on his person as to make any normal man fall over from the weight of them all.

No one who fought him lived to tell the tale, but rumor had it that he would help people lost on the road as long as they would try to help him in return. He traveled many leagues, and no one ever knew if he found who he was looking for, but that is a story for another time.

* * *

**And that's it all you crazy readers, the ending to another 100,000+ story. I just don't know how to write a small story a guess. I'll never be a good novelist that way. Who writes huge stories into one book and doesn't make anything off sequels that could be written but aren't cause the first books are so huge! (i.e. Gone with the Wind)**

**My thanks go to my reviewers who I name here.**

**Dragonwiles (my hero), jagaer, Ransumi, Snipersnake111, Metacarius, Duke of no Money (I like his idea the best), Avis de Rapina, and to those who did not review but put me in there alerts, Tsunade93Haku, kimpo, and triods.**

**Thank you for reading this humble story, my poor attempt at fiction. My heart and my hope is that you who read this to the end have enjoyed this as much as I did writing it.**


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